Just my Imagination
by PsychoPhoenix38
Summary: Jeff, Matt and Annie have been friends since they were little kids but what happens when a romantic storyline is introduced and Jeff and Annie must fight their feelings. All WWE characters, no specific time period.
1. Goodbye Hair Hello Controversy

**A/N: I haven't written about wrestling in a while but I felt the need to. The timeline is off from what it is or has been in the past with bits and pieces of real life thrown in there. I don't own any of the superstars. **

"Come on Jeff," Annie yelled at him. "Would come out?"

"I don't want to," he complained.

"It can't be as bad as you think it is."

"Trust me, it's that bad."

Annie sat on the couch at her house waiting for Jeff to finally come out of the bathroom. He had gotten his hair cut earlier in the day and she was anxious to see her best friend. Jeff had been held up in the bathroom for an hour, not wanting to come out and face her. Although they had been best friends since they were kids he just couldn't make himself come out of the bathroom.

"Really Jeff," she yelled. "I'm getting sick of waiting out here. If you don't come out I'm getting Matt to force you out."

"Fine," he grunted with a little bit of a smile on his face. He looked at himself one more time in the mirror before exiting the bathroom. He opened the door slowly and made his way down the hallway of her house to Annie waiting for him. "Satisfied," he asked blankly.

Annie looked up at him surprised and put her hands over her mouth. Jeff stood and waited for her to respond. She got up and walked over to stand just in front of him. She slowly took her hands off of her mouth and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Well," he stated impatiently.

"It's so short," she gasped. His long hair was gone, the hair that she had gotten so used to. Although he had cut his hair before, this time it was extremely short, just like normal people. He grabbed her wrists and took them away from his hair.

"Is it really that bad," he questioned.

"It's just gonna take some time to get used to," she confessed. It was a big change for him. "How do they feel about it," she asked knowing who she meant.

"They told me that it was okay but people would probably be upset by it. It's not really up to them."

"Very true. They told me that I have a new storyline when I get back."

"Funny, they told me the same thing," he stated, wondering what was going on. Annie was wondering the same thing. "Did they tell you what it would be about?"

"All they told me was that it would huge."

"Great, I guess we are in this together."

"Always have been," she stated lightly putting her head on his shoulder.

"Always will be," he smiled kissing the top of her head.

They had grown up together, came through the ranks together and when they got to the WWE their careers took them in separate directions. Jeff went off with Matt and Amy while Annie made her own marks. She wrestled as a diva for quite a while but refused to be used as a manager. Vince understood why she didn't but that didn't keep him from trying, first with Edge and Christian and then he had a ludacris idea to make her Kane and Undertaker's sister. In reality all she wanted was to have a name of her own and have people remember her as a wrestler not as a valet of sorts.

After 10 years it was only fitting that Vince try to break that mold and she would allow it, but only because it was to help Jeff, who had been having issues. Annie was told it was either start an on screen relationship with him or they both would have been suspended. Jeff had been her best friend for so long there was no way it was going to be easy to be romantic with him. It wasn't that neither of them had the experience but just not with each other.

"So did you want to talk about what we were going to about this storyline," Jeff asked her putting his arm around her shoulders. "I know that it's probably going to be weird."

"It will when it gets more serious but dude, people already think that we are a couple," she joked motioning to his arm. He chuckled a little bit. "So until it comes to kissing you we should be fine."

"What's wrong with my kissing," he stated insulted.

"Eww, Jeff, we've been friends for too long for me to have remotely any attraction to you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You're welcome," Annie stated with a laugh as she turned her attentions back towards the movie that was on. Jeff was quiet for a few minutes and she looked at him quickly. She thought that she could get used to the hair but it would just take time. They had all been friends for so long that she was just about ready for anything when it came to their professional and personal lives.

"So what time do I need to pick you up tomorrow," he questioned.

"Early, about 6. We need to be in Boston for an autograph signing, then a photoshoot and then the show."

"Jez, don't you think they would schedule those for different days," he complained. "It's not fair having to get up that early in the morning. I would need to wake up at like 5 to get here on time."

"Why don't you just stay here then," she asked. "You've got your room here and I wouldn't mind the company."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why don't you go and get your bags?"

"They're in the car," he admitted sheepishly.

"Oh, so you knew how easy I would be," she laughed.

"I know how you easy you'd be babe, we've been friends for a gazillion years," he joked before getting up off the couch and going outside to his car. He grabbed his suitcase out of the trunk and brought it into the house. "So what's for dinner," he asked once he was back from putting his bag in his room.

"I don't know, why don't we just order something in?"

"Chinese," he asked but he knew that's what they were getting before she even answered him. She nodded as he dialed up their favorite Chinese place. They watched the rest of the movie before the food arrived and once it did they downed it like there was no tomorrow.

"So do you want to go to bed," Annie asked him.

"I'd rather stay up a little later and watch a movie if that's okay."

"Not a problem, I'll stay down here with you," she replied.

Jeff loved to spend time with Annie, no matter what they were doing. He didn't care if they were eating, working out, wrestling, riding or just sitting around but he felt this draw to her. It has always been there between the two and that's why they had always been best friends. He knew that she would always be in her life but he could never find a girl that matched up to her. It was hard for Jeff to hold onto a girlfriend for the simple fact that there was always something wrong with her, usually that they didn't hold his interest.

The phone rang suddenly and Annie jumped up. She looked around at first, not knowing where she was, and then looked at Jeff. They must have fallen asleep on the couch.

"Crap," she yelled looking for her phone. Jeff shot up as well.

"What," he asked groggily. "What's going on?"

"We're late," she screamed at him still looking for her phone. Jeff went to hand it to her but she ran upstairs to finish packing before he could. Thankfully she handed unpacked her bags, which handled all of her ring gear, from their last trip so all she had to do was pack normal, clean clothes and grab her title and she was out in no time. Jeff was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, suitcase and keys in hand.

"Would you calm down," he stated. "We aren't supposed to leave for another 20 minutes."

"Really then who was calling me," she asked catching her breath.

"Matt was just making sure that we were awake. He saw my car here on his way to get coffee."

"Tell him to get me some."

"He already knows to get you your coffee when we have an early flight."

She just smiled at him and looked at his hair again, which caused the smile to stay on her face.

"What," he asked exasperated.

"Your hair."

"Would you stop making fun of me for it?"

"I'm not making fun of you for it, I think it's kind of cute. No more rainbow hair."

"Just for a little while."

"Come on, we should go and meet Matt."

Jeff grabbed their suitcases and her duffle bag before heading out the door while she carried her title. Jeff opened up his trunk and put everything in their and Annie held her title out for him to take. He laid her Divas championship next to his WWE championship. It still amazed both of them that they were champions at the same time.

It took no time at all until they were at the airport. They put their championships into their bags and headed off into the airport. They noticed Matt instantly in his baseball cap and hoodie. Annie ran over and gave him a hug.

"Have you seen him yet," she asked.

"No. Is it that bad," he questioned.

"It's just weird," she joked.

"Well that's Jeff for ya," he continued joking. Jeff walked up and smiled at his older brother. He stood motionless for a moment until Matt ripped the hat off of his head. He stared awestruck for a moment before Jeff took his hat back and firmly placed it on his head. "Wow Jeff, you look normal."

"I know," he grunted. Jeff had wanted a change and after your hair has been every color of the rainbow, at one point or another or all at once, there wasn't much else that he could do with it. The three of them made their way through security and before they knew it, Annie, who was sitting in the middle of the two brothers, was gripping their hands for dear life. If there was anything in the world that terrified Annie it was flying. Jeff unclasped her grip once they were in the air and the seatbelt sign turned off.

"How many times have you been in a plane," he asked just like every other time they flew together.

"Thousands," she replied.

"Well Annabelle, you really should get over that."

"Jeffery, would you please stop with the full names?"

"You calling me Jeffery really doesn't bother me."

"Well you call me Annabelle bothers me."

"I know it does," he stated smugly. He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled before leaning his head back towards the seat and putting his headphones in his ears. Sometime during the flight Annie fell asleep on Jeff's shoulder and Matt just looked over with a smile on his face. When would they figure it out, he questioned to himself. He took a quick picture of them and then focused on the script that was in his hands.

They were in the ground and in Boston before they knew it and Annie was just as freaked out landing as she had been taking off. They made their way to the hotel and Matt and Jeff headed off to their room while she went into the ajoining room. After the first year of being on the road the three of them had spent so much time in each other's rooms that they decided ajoining rooms were the best idea, so that they could come and go as they please.

Annie started getting ready for the autograph signing and couldn't figure out what to wear. She settled on a pair of dark washed skinny jeans and a black and white printed silk tank top with a pair of black stiletto heels. No matter how many times she had done this in the past it was still hard for her to feel like she was presentable. She straightened her long black hair, that nearly reached her midback, and outlined her bright blue eyes with dark eyeliner. She smiled slightly at herself.

Meanwhile Jeff searched through his bag in the room he shared with Matt.

"So why were you at Annie's this morning," Matt questioned.

"It was getting late and I didn't feel like waking up extremely early to drive and pick her up."

"I'm sure that's all it was."

"It is Matt. I don't get where you get the idea that there is something more between us. There never has been and never will be."

"I wouldn't say that," Matt warned. "I know that you guys are best friends, you say so all the time. But I am her best friend and we have no where near the same relationship that you guys have."

"It's because your more like her brother," Jeff joked. "Should I wear this," he asked holding up a Red Sox jersey.

"Do you own anything but jerseys?"

"Yes but I figured when in Boston," Jeff stated with a laugh. He changed into a clean pair of acid washed jeans and through the jersey on over a wife beater. Out of habit he went into the bathroom to brush out his hair and put it into a ponytail but without any hair left he had nothing to do. He threw on his knit cap and walked back out to see Matt flipping through the channels.

"You don't have a signing," Jeff questioned.

"No, I have the morning off. I've got a signing at 3."

"Wonder why you aren't going with us?"

"It's probably because on screen we want to kill each other," he laughed.

Jeff nodded his head with his lips pouted out and walked towards the door that led him to Annie's room. He knocked quickly before going in. He poked his head in and she was in the bathroom still.

"Stop being such a girl," he complained jumping into her king size bed. "Why do you get a king size and I get a full. It's so not fair."

She poked her head out of the bathroom, mascara in hand. "It's because you have a roommate and I am stuck in here by myself."

"I'm right next door if you need some company." She looked at him thoughtfully, though most nights they kept the door open anyways. It helped her to sleep at night when she knew that somebody was around. She always had problems with sleeping but when she was around people it seemed to ease her into sleep. "Hurry up, we're going to be late."

"And how many times have we been late because of you," she stated as a matter of factly.

Jeff nodded his head again, defeated. He laid on her bed as she finished her make-up. When she was finished they grabbed their titles and then they made their way down to the lobby. Annie handed the keys to the rental car to Jeff and he got in willingly.

When they got to the arena, it seemed like a million people were waiting outside. Jeff and Annie made their way inside and met with the creative director before sitting at the table beside each other. The fans screamed the moment that they saw Annie and Jeff sit down. They waved politely at them. WWE logos were behind them and pictures of themselves were in front of them. Annie looked down at her picture, expecting to see her in a bikini or something like that. Instead she saw a picture of her smiling and posing in a football uniform from last weeks Halloween photo shoot with her name Annie Williams in big letters behind her. She nodded approvingly and noticed that Jeff's picture was him in a mid-air Swanton Bomb.

"Why do you get an action picture and I get this," she questioned raising her picture.

"Because you are a Diva and you're supposed to look gorgeous, which you do."

"Thank you," she blushed looking down at the table. It was the one part of herself that she hated. Anytime anybody made an embarrising comment or compliment she blushed uncontrollably. Once her face cooled down Jeff put a reassuring hand on her thigh as the doors opened and the fans started to pile in.

Fan after fan came up and posed with the two of them. Even though they weren't involved in a storyline together yet everybody knew that they were friends, being billed from the same location in their entrances. They were both fan favorites and if one more person started yelling about how much of jerk Matt was being Annie was going to reach over the table and strangle them. It's not real, she felt like yelling at them but she knew that she couldn't. Little girls gravitated towards Annie because she wasn't like the other divas. Sure she liked to look feminine but she was different. Her attitude, her style, her wrestling was different. It was how she lasted so long with the company. Most divas lasted a good 6 years, at most, if they were good but she had lasted 10. She had seen a lot of people come and go, some friends and some not, but the three of them still remained.

Once the autograph signing was over they were immediately given directions to a studio for a photoshoot in downtown Boston. Going from the TD Garden to the studio they ended up getting lost, even with a GPS and the printed out directions. Once Jeff calmed down after getting lost they finally made it there and Annie was wisked into hair and makeup.

They put in some purple extensions to her black hair and curled it, making a cascade of curls falling down her back and her make-up was heavier. They lined her eyes with black mascara and gave her a severe smoky eye. The creative director Mike sat down with her.

"So this photoshoot is for you guys once this whole storyline starts." She nodded in understanding. "It's going to be a little bit more touchy than previous photoshoots but if you are uncomfortable in anyway just say so."

"Thanks Mike."

Even though Annie was put in an awkward position, it was nice to know that creative knew that it might be weird. She put on a pair of tight black skinny pants with white stitching and dark purple knee high stiletto boots and a very low cut purple shirt. She walked out on set to see Jeff already in action. He was wearing his traditional black pants with his new purple in ring boots and one of the shirts that he had designed.

Jeff smiled as he saw her standing beside the photographer but turned his attention back to the task at hand. Annie was surprised to see him without a hat on and his brown hair looked very good on him, even though it was still a little bit weird for her.

"Okay Jeff, now I need you to pose for your match photo."

He made the guns with his fingers and pointed them up to his mouth, his traditional pose for those things, and did the same pose for a little while before switching it up with his raised left eyebrow.

"What are you, The Rock," Annie yelled. Jeff smirked, obviously trying to keep in the laugh that was trying to escape.

"I think we are good with you, come on Annabelle," the photographer said as she grimaced at her full name.

"Just Annie is fine," she said politely before passing Jeff on set. He smiled at her and smacked her butt lightly. She looked at him shocked as the photographer took a photo.

"Go getum Tiger," Jeff laughed as he stood in the same position that she had been in.

She smiled a big smile, laughing, as the photographer snapped photos. She then started to relax a little bit and ran through her planned poses. Annie had been doing this long enough to know how to pose and what looked good on camera. She smiled for some and grimaced in others, giving a wide variety. Halfway through she ended up tripping on a cable and falling to the ground, saving herself with her hands. She looked up to Jeff and started laughing.

"You're seriously taking pictures," she said sarcastically to the photographers. "That's what everybody wants to see, me landing flat on my face. You would think I would be more graceful."

Jeff laughed at her and the photographer intervened. "Okay you guys, time for the couple shots."

They both kind of grimaced at the word "couple" but Jeff made his way over to her anyways. She smiled as he came into view and it was all acting from then on. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he finally got over to her, tilting her head back smiling in his arms, his strong arms. Annie pushed the thoughts out of her head as Jeff nuzzled his head into his neck.

They had always done things like that off screen so why did it feel so awkward now with the photographer taking pictures of them. They figured that joking around and flinging each other around would turn out great. Jeff pretended to run after her and grab her from behind around the waist and swung her around with a big pronounced smile on both of their faces. She managed to wiggle her way around to turn to him.

"Now I want you guys to slowly move towards each other."

"We know how to kiss," Jeff snapped. He looked down at Annie and she looked up at him. The smile diminished from their faces as they snapped into serious mode. He looked down at her and put his hand underneath her chin pointing it up towards him and left it there as she put her hand on the back of his head, threading her fingers through the rest of the hair that he had left. They inched closer towards each other, close enough to feel the others breath and they had about an eighth of a centimeter left.

"That was great," the director screamed.

They instantly broke their grips on each other and looked awkwardly away from each other. What just happened?


	2. Awkward Moment Averted

"How did the photo-shoot go," Matt asked Jeff as he plopped down on the bed.

"It was weird," Jeff responded.

"And why was that," Matt asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

"It was like we were in a different world. We were on the brink of kissing each other and after the director called for cut it was just so awkward."

"Jeff if you think that there is something there you should probably say something to Danielle and Annie."

"I know but I think it was awkward because of our friendship, not because there is something there. Plus Dani and I have only been dating a few months."

"Yeah you've been dating a few months and you still haven't told Annie."

"I just don't think that it is necessary."

"I think that it is. You guys are supposed to be best friends and you haven't said a word to her about it. It's not right to her as your friend. If her having feelings for you is the reason that you haven't told her about Dani it's a pretty stupid reason."

"Annie doesn't have feelings for me Matt. I know that you have this fucked up idea in your head that me and her are destined to be together but we are in our 30's now and if it hasn't happened in 25 years then it's not going to happen. You need to get that idea out of your head."

"The longer that you go without telling her about Danielle the more it is going to affect your friendship. You know the way that Annie gets when you keep a secret from her."

"Let's just get through the holidays. I don't want there to be any tension."

"And you're not going to spend the holidays with Dani?"

"No. We haven't been dating for very long and it would be a little weird. We are going to Annie's house for thanksgiving, like we do every year, and spend Christmas Eve there also. It's the way we have done things for 10 years and we aren't going to change that now."

"Jeff," Matt stated looking at him and putting his hand on his calf. "I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life but she deserves to know because she is your friend." Jeff nodded his head in understanding. "Why don't you guys go out and get some lunch, watch a movie or something. I need to go to my signing now."

"Thanks Matt."

"You're welcome."

Matt left Jeff lying on the bed and headed down to the lobby. He couldn't believe how childish his little brother was being about this. It just wasn't the way that things were supposed to turn out, not the way that their mom had wanted things. The moment that their mom had met Annie she knew that Annie would be in their lives forever and she always had the idea in her head that Jeff and Annie would get married one day. Now he was going to mess that all up not only by dating somebody else but also by not telling Annie about her. He could see it as the beginning of a fight and there was nothing that he could do about it.

Jeff lay on the bed for a few more minutes before he got up and knocked on the door to Annie's room. She was sitting at the top of her bed, flipping through the channels of the TV.

"So do you want to get some room service," Jeff asked sitting next to her and putting his feet out in front of him.

"Sure, do you want to order it while I try and get this make-up off my face?"

"What did you want?"

"A burger, even though that means I'm going to have to do an hour of cardio later."

"One burger isn't going to kill you," he stated reaching over to look at the menu. Annie went into the bathroom and tried to get all of the heavy make-up off her face. It seemed like it took forever with the amount of crap that they caked onto her face. She tried to get rid of the overwhelming awkwardness that had come out as a result of the photo-shoot. How were they supposed to do this and how could they? There was no way that they could act that well. Some things were just better on paper than on execution.

Annie threw cold water on her face when she was finished and walked back into her hotel room to Jeff lying on the bed with his arms stretched above his head watching The Hardy Show.

"Are you seriously going to make me watch us?"

"There isn't anything good on the TV okay," he defended. "Plus this is the next episode that is going up."

"Do I even want to know?"

"No….you're being crazy in this one."

"Great, we can have the entire world watching this."

"Oh just be quiet. At least I haven't made you Itchweed's girlfriend yet." He looked at her with a smile on his face. "Oh that's a good idea. When we get home we are so painting your face and making you all crazy and such. I have to tell Matt when he gets back."

"Come on Jeff, really? You know I hate to paint my face."

"Get over it, it's going to happen."

Annie plopped down on the bed and ignored Jeff, paying attention to the latest episode of the Hardy Show. There was a knock on the door a few minutes later. After they were done with their lunch they lay down and continued watching the DVD.

Matt came back to hotel a few hours later and went into his room. He looked around but didn't see Jeff. The door was open leading into Annie's room and he heard his laughing. He quickly went in to see the Hardy Show on the TV and Jeff and Annie sleeping. Jeff had one arm behind his head and Annie was lying on his chest, all curled around him with his other hand threaded through her hair. Matt grabbed his camera and took a picture.

Matt had been taking pictures of them together since he could remember. Amy had given him the idea that one day, when they finally figured things out, that they would like a photo album of themselves. So Matt took it upon himself to always take pictures when they weren't looking or when they were sleeping together. The 4 of them had been so happy together but when Amy left he always felt like he was a little left out.

Jeff and Annie had come up with a plan for that, well sort of. Once Vince had told them about their storyline, Annie thought that it would be a great idea to have Crystal, the diva that she was currently feuding with, hook up with Matt. Both Jeff and Annie thought that they would be a great match out of the ring too and Vince agreed. With Jeff and Matt pretty much ready to kill each other and Annie and Crystal's on going rivalry and jealously it was a surprise that he hadn't seen it earlier.

Matt knew that something was coming along those lines but not that they had been behind it. After taking a shower and eating his dinner it was time for him to wake them up, which was not always the easiest task. He knocked on the door and Annie twitched in her sleep. He knocked a little bit harder and she slowly started to open her eyes. She looked confused for a minute as she looked up at Jeff and over to Matt. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"What time is it," she groggily asked.

"It's 6. We've got to get to the arena."

"Okay," she stated stretching her arms above her head and going to get out of bed. "Can you get him up? Creative said that we need to arrive together so he needs to be ready to go."

"Not a problem," Matt answered as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Matt turned his attentions to Jeff and shook him lightly. "Come on Jeff, we've got to get going." Jeff didn't move an inch. Matt then slapped his chest. Jeff shot up and stopped himself from punching Matt in the stomach.

"Jez, man, why'd you hit me?"

"It's time for you to get up. Annie is getting ready and you two need to go to the arena together."

"But you didn't have to hit me."

"Well nothing else was working, now get your lazy butt out of bed."

Jeff growled quietly and sat up in bed rubbing his eyes. He went to his room and grabbed his duffle bag full of his ring gear and title and put his knit hat on his head. Annie was there a few minutes later with her make-up done and hair down, wearing the skinny jeans and dark purple knee high heeled boots from the photo-shoot with a black tank-top on.

"Aren't you going to be cold," Jeff asked. "It's November in Massachusetts."

"I have my jacket in my duffle bag," she stated lifting her bag in the air. "I've really got to wash my ring gear. I haven't done it since my last match."

"I have a feeling that your ring gear is going to be changing soon anyways."

"And why is that?"

"Because we are probably going to be matching. No more black and white attire for you."

"There's nothing wrong with black and white."

"Not really, but you are probably going to be doing purple of some sort because that's what I always wear."

"Which is why they had me wear these," she said lifting her foot off the ground showing him her boots. "I guess these are going to be used for a while then."

"I would think so. If I know Vince he's got new ring attire at the arena for you."

"We should get going," Annie stated to Matt. "When are you getting there?"

"I'll be there in about 30 minutes. You guys need to make an entrance before I do."

"I really hate that this is going to keep on going," Annie stated. "I was hoping that everything would stop so we wouldn't have to be so careful. We can't even go out to eat together because of this and now because I'm with Jeff, you and I aren't going to be able to go out either."

"It's only when we are in the vicinity of an arena. We can still go out when we are home. I guess that it's part of this storyline that we have to deal with. I won't be alone for long though."

"Oh yeah, Crystal. How are you feeling about that?"

"We can talk about it later Annie but you guys really need to go. Remember the camera crew."

"Yes I remember."

Annie hugged Matt tightly before she and Jeff walked down to the car. The drive to the arena was a lot easier the second time around and it took them no time at all in order to get there. Once they pulled into the parking garage Mike, the creative director, was there waiting for them.

"Are you guys ready," he asked them. They both nodded their heads. "We are just doing a quick entrance promo. Put your titles on your shoulders and Jeff put your arm around her waist and Annie put your head against his shoulder."

They both nodded as Jeff went to grab their bags. He went into the bags and took out their titles. He flung both of the bags on his left shoulder and his title on top of them and handed Annie her title. She put it on her right shoulder as Jeff grabbed her around the waist with his right arm while she placed her head in the nook of his shoulder. The camera zoomed in on them as they walked into the arena, talking about nothing and smiling. Once they were reached the door Mike came up to them.

"Was that okay," Annie asked unsure of herself.

"Yes, it was perfect, just what Vince wanted. You guys have your own locker room tonight and other than that, the show starts at 9, that's when we are going to play that. Everyone will freak out about the WWE champion and the Diva's champion showing up together."

"Sounds good," Annie replied.

"Alright you two, go and eat or workout, whatever you need to do."

Annie and Jeff took off into the arena and walked down the halls. When they got to their locker room they hung up their bags next to each other and put their titles on a chair next to each other. Annie chuckled.

"What," Jeff asked.

"I remember when I won my first championship and I never put the thing down. I walked around with it all the time and even slept with it. It's just seems like it was so long ago."

"It was," Jeff stated. "8 years ago."

"Remember how excited our parents were when we won the championships on the same night. It was like the best feeling in the world."

"It really was. I still can't believe that I'm the WWE champion and you're the Diva's. It just seems like my mom is truly looking down on us."

"I miss her."

"I miss her too. I really wish that she could have been here for everything."

"Jeff," Annie said sadly putting her hand on his back. "She has seen everything that you and Matt have done and she would have been very proud of you for everything that you have done."

Jeff wrapped his arms around her and held her closely to him. Annie tried the best that she could to hold him as tightly as possible and to hold in the tears that were threatening to escape. It had always been hard on Jeff to lose his mom and when she passed away it was like their worlds' all shattered. Even after all of these years it was still a very sensitive subject.

"So," Jeff said with a laugh pulling away from her. "Have you talked to your dad lately?"

"I talked to him for a few minutes last week. I still wish that he was here more. Do you know that he has never come to a live show?"

"Yeah I do."

"I figured that he would be proud of me because I found something to do in my life that I can be proud of and that I am happy doing. It's just like when we were younger and he never came to my games."

"He's come to a few. I remember the one in high school the most."

"Yeah because I saw him and started crying. The softball team was wondering what was wrong with me."

"I stood up there with him Annie and he was proud of you. I had never seen you play as great as you did that night."

"I just wish he would have been there more, ya know. It wasn't like my parents were divorced and lived so far away from each other. They were still married and it took him until my senior year to come to a softball game. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he hasn't made it to a match of mine."

"Have you ever talked to him about it?"

"I have but it just doesn't seem like he cares. Once my parents got divorced it's like he doesn't care about his kids. My brother is doing decently with his life and my dad doesn't really talk to him either."

"Then it's not your fault that he is like that. I don't want you to ever think that it is your fault that your dad doesn't care. It's his own fault that he doesn't care. Don't ever let that make you feel like you're not good enough."

Annie looked at him thoughtfully and forced a smile onto her face. She and her dad had always had a strained relationship and Jeff was always there when she needed to talk or complain about it to somebody. He let her vent, let her cry and let her scream when her father made her mad or upset. It was why they were so close and why Jeff would always be her best friend.

Matt was waiting around his hotel room with nothing to do so he decided that it was time to go to the arena. At least that way he wouldn't be by himself. Once he got there he went to find Crystal to talk to her about their upcoming storyline. He found her in the catering room eating at a table by herself.

"Hey there," he stated approaching her and sitting across from her. "I hear we are in a storyline together."

"Yeah I heard that too," Crystal joked. She was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and big brown eyes. "I just wanted to let you know that if you want to get to know each other a little bit better we can hang out."

"I think that maybe a good idea. I know that we've got a lot of acting to do but it would be nice to know you better. We've never really had a chance to talk to each other." Even though Matt had always thought she was absolutely gorgeous. But once Amy had left he told himself that he would never date somebody in the wrestling industry again.

"I know. I feel like we've been in different groups. I guess that's what happens when I'm fighting your best friend every week."

"How did you know that we're best friends?"

"Everybody knows Matt," Crystal stated. "You, Jeff and Annie all grew up together. Everybody can see that you guys are all best friends. I was a fan of wrestling before I got here too. I remember you guys rising up through the ranks together, I was just a few years behind you."

"Well since you know so much about me, tell me a little bit about yourself."

"I hate doing this," she stated with a smile before taking a bit of her salad. "I'm from Boston, Mass, well a small town outside of it called Wakefield but I just decided that Boston was probably easier to tell everybody. I loved where I grew up but it just wasn't the way that I wanted to spend my life. I got really into wrestling when I was 12 and I knew from then on that's what I wanted to do. And as I rose up through the ranks it was nice to see that women were starting to be real competitors. I guess that I'm a lot like Annie in that way."

"I know Annie was one of the first ones to break the mold. She and Amy really changed the face of women's wrestling."

"That I know and it is such an honor to be in a story with her. It's like wrestling your idol for the first time."

"She's your idol?"

"She's one of them. I just can't believe how long she had been in the company and how much she has accomplished without sacrificing her beliefs."

"Annie never told me any of this."

"It's because I never told her. I wanted to try and be professional because I just starting to get my first title match and I didn't want to seem like some star struck little girl."

"How old are you?"

"I'm 28, about to be 29. I feel like I'm getting so old."

"Well I'm older than you so don't feel that way. Just wait a few more years before you start to worry about your age."

"I guess I have always had this stupid fear of getting old."

"I know the feeling. I'm just waiting for the day that my body gives out on me and I'm not able to do this anymore. I feel like something is going to happen that will prevent me from wrestling anymore."

"That day is nowhere in the near future Matt, I truly believe that." Crystal finished her last bit of her salad and went to throw it away. Matt followed her.

"Did you want to go and meet with Jeff and Annie to go over everything?"

"I guess that would be okay but I've got to start getting ready soon. It takes a lot to make me look good," she joked.

"Not as much as you may think," Matt responded. She smiled and they said their goodbyes. They would be meeting up later in the night to do a promo.

Once Matt had found Jeff and Annie's locker room he knocked on the door before entering. They were sitting on opposite sides of the room, both with headphones in their ears. They looked up at him at the same time but then focused their attentions back to the scripts in their hands.

"What are you two going to ignore me?" They both nodded their heads. "Seriously," Matt complained.

"Just getting into character," Jeff stated bluntly. Matt stood with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Fine. Annie, you want to hear something?" She looked up at him cautiously and nodded. "Crystal lists you as her idol."

"Seriously," she asked confused. "Why would that be?"

"Because you never gave in to the stereotype of what a diva was supposed to be."

"That was sweet of her to say."

"Yeah she's really nice actually. I can't believe that I never really spoke to her."

"That's the way this company works. Sometimes it's just better to not make friends with people."

"Which is completely understandable. Did you want to go over the storyline again?"

"Matt if I go over it one more time I'm going to scream. All we need to worry about right now is what we are going to be doing tonight."

"Alright, well I should be getting ready for my promo."

"Good luck," she stated.

Matt looked at his brother again, who was still focused on the script, and shook his head as he walked out the door. It was going to be harder than he thought to get those two to see the light, especially now that Jeff had Danielle.

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who is reading  
Let me know what you guys are thinking  
Congrats to Jeff and Beth on their little daughter.  
I just couldn't make Beth out to be the enemy or the bad guy so that's why I introduced Danielle.  
Leave me some feedback, I tend to write faster that way.  
Thanks again.  
~Sabrina~**


	3. Too Many Problems

Chapter 3

Raw started with Jeff and Annie walking into the arena, snuggled into each other, and their titles hanging on their shoulders.

"What's this," the King stated. "Why are the Diva's champion and the WWE champion together?"

"When did all of this happen," JR stated. "Who would have ever thought?"

"Not me, that's for sure. I was hoping that would be me."

"King she's too young for you. We'll see what impact this has later on tonight."

Jeff and Annie stood in the back watching the monitors as their promo from earlier in the night ran. To anybody else they really did look like a couple but they knew the truth. They would only ever be best friends and nothing more. The thought had crossed Annie's mind a few years back but since then she had been telling herself that nothing could ever happen between them.

Every time she dated somebody she found herself comparing them to Jeff. This one was too boring, this one wasn't creative enough, this one didn't take enough risks, and this one wasn't as funny as Jeff. It was like no matter how hard she tried to date and settle down with somebody there was a voice in the back of her head telling her that this guy wasn't the guy.

But anytime that somebody asked her if she and Jeff were ever going to date she would say no. Anytime somebody would ask her if she had feelings for Jeff she would say no automatically. It was as if a reflex, as easy as breathing, to just deny anything and everything when it came to the topic of Jeff. Sure they had always been best friends and everybody wanted them to date but the topic never came up in their conversations. It was the one subject that neither of them ever wanted to talk about.

Matt had witnessed all of this and wanted to just smack some sense into them. It was like Jeff and Annie were stuck in this loop of denial and would never admit anything to each other. Matt was trying the hardest that he could in order to get the two together but there wasn't much he could do about it. Both Annie and Jeff were extremely stubborn and wouldn't listen to Matt once he started talking about a relationship between the two, instead of just a friendship.

"Are you ready," Crystal stated bouncing towards Matt. Her blonde hair was straightened out and her make-up was done. Her sparkled light blue top and booty shorts were an instant "notice me" outfit and Matt did notice her.

"Yeah you could say that."

"I guess this is probably really hard on you, fighting with Jeff I mean."

"It's just hard because he is my brother and I would never actually want to hurt him. We've had fights on screen before but this is going too far. They want me to tell him that he's no longer my brother."

"As long as you two know that it isn't true then it shouldn't be too big of a deal. You know that I'm here for you?" Matt nodded his head. "It's one of the perks to this storyline. You get full on friend benefits," Crystal stated with a smile. "Now come on, we've got a party to break up."

Jeff was already with Annie at ringside for her tag match with Natalya. Maryse had already made her way down to the ring and was standing outside of it waiting for Crystal to make her entrance. Crystal's music hit and boos where heard through-out the arena as she stepped through the curtain with a microphone in hand. She stood at the top of the ramp and signaled for her music to be cut.

"Now, Annie, you think that having Jeff by your side is really going to help you." Annie grabbed Jeff's hand by instinct as Crystal continued. "Little did you know that I have had a boyfriend of my own for quite a while. We just figured that we would wait until you two figured out your little relationship."

Matt's music hit and louder boos were heard from the crowd as he made his way through the curtain. He looked down towards the ring to Jeff, who was looking at Annie. She was trying to calm him down by grabbing his face and forcing him to look at her.

"Don't let this bother you," she whispered to him. "He's nothing, you know that. Don't let him get in your mind."

Matt grabbed Crystal by the waist and pulled her body into his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and the two looked down at Jeff and Annie with smug smiles on their faces. They made their way down the ramp hand in hand. Annie hugged Jeff quickly and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled and kissed the top of her head before getting out of the ring. Matt stood on the opposite side from Jeff. It was as if there wasn't even a match in the ring as the two brothers stared each other down.

Crystal and Natalya started the match off, with Natalya getting the upper hand. It was a few quick grappling moves before Natalya tagged in Annie. Annie went and tried to beat the life out of Crystal. How could she do this? It was one thing to mess with her but with her boyfriend? Annie went for a DDT in the middle of the ring but Crystal reversed it into a DDT of her own. The two divas lay out on the mat, each one trying to get to their corner. They tagged their partners in at the same time.

Annie rolled out of the ring and lay on the ring apron. Jeff came over to her to check on her.

"Are you okay," he asked putting his hand on her hip. She nodded painfully keeping in character. Jeff rubbed the back of her head lightly before helping her stand up on the apron to pay attention to the rest of the match. Natalya had the upper hand with Maryse as she hooked her into the sharp shooter. Just as Crystal went to get into the ring to break up the submission hold, Annie flew across the ring and hit her with a hard clothesline just as Maryse tapped out.

Annie pushed Crystal out of the ring with her foot and into Matt's outstretched arms. Annie put a cocky smile on her face as she turned her attentions back to Natalya that was getting her hand raised in victory. The ref held up both of their hands as Jeff slide into the ring and hugged Annie tightly and spun her around in circles in the middle of the ring. Once he put her down the ref handed her back her title and she raised it above her head.

Jeff and Annie then focused their attentions back to Matt and Crystal, who was stumbling up the ramp. They both leaned over the top rope and waved with a smile on their faces. Jeff helped her out of the ring and held her by the waist on their way back up the ramp. Fans cheered for them as they held their titles in the air before going to the back.

"You did great," Annie said to Crystal once they got backstage. "Very good acting."

"Well that clothesline wasn't exactly light," she stated.

"Sorry I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

"Not a big deal, really."

"Did you want to go and get a drink later," Annie asked her.

"I think that would be great. Just let me shower and get changed. Did you want to meet at the hotel bar?"

"Sounds good to me," Annie stated. It would be better to drink in the hotel so that she wouldn't need to drive intoxicated. That's just what she needed again.

Annie and Jeff made their way back to their locker room to grab their stuff. Annie changed quickly out of her ring attire, her black booty shorts and black halter top, while taking off her white elbow and knee pads. Jeff helped her unlace her boots as she took off her elbow pads.

"You did great out there," Annie stated to Jeff. "You know how to play my boyfriend well."

"Well, I guess I have a lot of practice in that area."

"What are you talking about?"

"You and I do that kind of stuff anyways, except now people are looking at in a different way. It's all about perception."

"Very true," Annie agreed. It wasn't like they hadn't done all of that before, it just felt different.

Once Annie got dressed the two headed back to the hotel so that they could shower and Annie could meet Crystal at the bar. She felt bad that she had never really gotten to know her before. She was just so used to divas coming and going that she never really made friends with any of them. Natalya and she were friends but it was different than it had been with Amy. When Amy left, Annie only had Jeff and Matt and it just wasn't the same.

After her shower she put on some light make-up and put her hair up into a wet ponytail. She didn't feel like doing her hair to just go to the bar. She got dressed in a pair of tight light blue jeans and a pair of sneakers. She put on a V-neck t-shirt and a sweater to go over it. Once she was done in the bathroom, Jeff was lying on her bed.

"Do you ever stay in your own room?"

"I just wanted to talk to you really quick before you go."

"Okay," she said sitting on the end of the bed. "What's up?"

"I just want you to be careful tonight."

"Jeff it happened one time and we aren't going out anywhere besides the hotel. It's part of the reason why I wanted to stay here."

"If you do go out somewhere else, just call me for a ride and I will come and pick you guys up. I don't want anything happening to you."

"Jeff I had one DUI 2 year ago and I've learned my lesson. After that car accident last year it pretty much scared me straight."

"But if you do go out call me, I don't want you to get hurt."

"Yes daddy," she stated sarcastically.

"Well somebody has to look out for you," Jeff stated sincerely and he was right about that. Her own dad hadn't ever told her not to drink and drive, in fact he was the master at that one. 40 years of drunk driving and no tickets or accidents, lucky him.

It was after a Christmas party at her mom's house when she had gotten a DUI driving home. She was taken to jail, fined, and put on probation. When she was there she didn't know who to call to bail her out. Her mom would have been so disappointed in her and she never wanted Jeff to see her like that. She had a drinking problem at times but it wasn't nearly as bad now as it had been at one time. At one point she was drinking every day just to get by and now it was a casual drink here and there.

She had been at the bar with a bunch of the other superstars one night after a show in Atlanta and was driving back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep. Annie knew that she shouldn't have been driving that night but she wasn't going to let her co-workers know that and demand a ride home from somebody. She didn't want anybody to know how bad off she was. On the way back she swerved and wrapped her rental car around a tree. Thankfully nobody else got hurt but she ended up breaking her wrist. After that she vowed to never drink and drive again. She got an earful from Vince, Jeff, Matt, her mom and a handful of her co-workers.

"Thank you," she smiled to Jeff before giving him a hug. "I'm just gonna have one or two drinks and then I'll be back."

"Okay."

Annie left Jeff in her bed as she headed down to the hotel lobby and into the restaurant. She sat at the bar and waited for Crystal to show up. She ordered a water to start with and an appetizer. If she had learned anything it was to always eat while she drank, otherwise it never turned out well.

A few people came up to her for autographs and she smiled towards them as she signed the pictures and napkins that were forced into her hand. She loved being able to connect to the fans but sometimes she wished that she could go out and not have that happen.

"Hey there," Crystal stated as she sat next to her. "What's that you're drinking?"

"Just water, I didn't want to drink by myself."

"Sorry it took so long. Matt and I were talking about the storyline at the arena before I could come back and shower."

"Not a problem. I see you went for casual too."

"Yeah, I get dressed up and pretty all the time. I just wanted to relax tonight."

"Me too."

They ordered their drinks, both getting a fruity girly drink, and then they continued on with their conversation.

"So what's actually going on with you and Matt," Annie asked taking a sip.

"I could ask you the same thing about Jeff."

"Jeff and I are just friends, nothing else. We've been friends for so long that it would be too weird to date each other."

"Has the thought ever crossed your mind?"

"More so lately but I know that it would be too weird. Even after our photo-shoot today we weren't acting the same towards each other."

"Annie it's only acting, you need to realize that. I know that you've never done something like this on-screen before but it's all about being professional. You and Jeff need to find the line between professional and personal and be able to snap back and forth between the two. We're doing that right now."

"It's a little bit different, I'm not dating you," Annie laughed.

"We'd make a cute couple though," Crystal joked.

"Cheers to that," Annie toasted her with her drink. "So really, what's going on with you and Matt?"

"Nothing yet, we're just getting to know each other."

"If it helps you're his type."

"What are you talking about?"

"He loves the brown eyes and your personality. You can joke around just as easy as you can be serious."

"He told you didn't he," Crystal accused.

"Told me what," Annie asked confused.

"He did, I know he did. Damn."

"There's nothing wrong with letting your idol know that they are your idol. When I first got here and got to meet Shawn I was like a deer in the headlights."

"Shawn Michaels," she questioned.

"Yeah, I liked his attitude and his style of wrestling. I wanted to be just like him but within the women's division. I wanted to blaze a new trail for women."

"Which you did and that's why you're my idol."

"Thanks," Annie stated taking a sip of her drink. She looked down and it was empty. She waved the bartender over and he had her drink in his hand as he got to her. Annie thanked him and went back to their conversation. "I have a great relationship with Shawn, he's like another dad to me. I haven't always had the best relationship with my dad and he's been there for me when I needed someone."

"That's really sweet, I wish that would happen to me."

"Well I can look out for you, much in the same way he looked out for me. It was kind of sad that when I was in the hospital he came to visit me and my own dad didn't."

"What happened to you?"

"I got into a car accident."

"That wasn't just a storyline," Crystal questioned.

"No it wasn't but they did cover for me. I shouldn't have gotten off that easy."

"What happened?"

"I had been drinking too much and I was tired and drifted off the road and into a tree. It kind of scared me straight from drinking and driving."

"I never knew that."

"They kept it a secret from the media. After my DUI went public they didn't want any other bad things to my name. I was supposed to be someone that little girls looked up to and I messed up."

The conversation flowed for longer than Annie had expected. When she saw Jeff, groggy and in a pair of pajamas, standing at the entrance of the bar, she looked at the time and realized that it was 3 in the morning. She stood up and wobbled a little bit. She held onto the bar for support. Crystal patted Jeff on the back.

"She drank a lot," she said sadly. "I couldn't tell her to stop, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," he said patting her on the shoulder before going over to Annie. "Hey you."

"Hey," Annie said trying to regain her exposure.

"Come on, let me help you."

Jeff put her arm around his shoulders and he put his arm around her waist. He gave the bartender his credit card and signed for her drinks, and then started to walk with her. She was pretty much dead on her feet. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her upstairs to her room. Once inside he put her on the bed and took her shoes off for her.

"Can you get changed yourself," he asked.

She shook her head and then put her hand up to it. He went and grabbed a pair of shorts out of her bag and went back to her. He took her sweater off and then unbuttoned her jeans. She didn't move an inch. He pulled her pants down and slipped the shorts onto her waist. She smiled as she snuggled into the pillow. Jeff then pulled the covers over her before going to get her a glass of water and the trash basket. He kissed her on the forehead before turning off the lights to head back to his room.

"Stay with me," she whispered. "I'm sick of being alone," she mumbled.

Jeff felt his heart swell in his chest because he never wanted her to be alone. She deserved everything in the world and then some but she was broken. Annie had been there for him when he needed help and he now needed to be there for her. She was only supposed to have two drinks and then come back up but she couldn't stop herself from drinking too much. He needed to help her. He lay down in the bed next to her and she snuggled up into his chest.

Jeff sighed to himself and knew that he shouldn't be doing this. Danielle was his girlfriend and here he was snuggled up to his best friend. It wasn't the way that a good boyfriend would act. He needed to tell her about Dani but he couldn't bring himself to do that. It would crush her. At a time like this she needed somebody to be there for her.

He fell asleep and a few hours later he woke up to Annie getting sick in the bathroom. He shot up out of bed and went into the bathroom. She was hugging the toilet and was shivering from being so cold. He grabbed a blanket for her and went back, sitting on the ground next to her. Jeff then wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and kept his hand there, rubbing her shoulder gently and pulling her hair out of her face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered faintly. "You don't have to be here for this."

"I'm not going anywhere," he stated. He sat with her for another hour before she was sleeping with her head resting on the toilet. He picked her up and carried her back to her bed. He changed her again, into his sweatshirt and a pair of his sweatpants, figuring that she was done for the night. He lies back down next to her and fell back asleep.

Matt was up most of the night, hearing what was going on in Annie's room. He knew that she had been out late because Jeff had been freaking out about it. When he heard her getting sick he wanted to go and check on her but when he did Jeff was grabbing a blanket off the bed to bring to the bathroom. All of them had been there for the other when they drank too much or when they were detoxing or had a concussion. They were all one family, taking care of each other when they were sick.

He heard Jeff rummaging around their room at 5, going through his bags. For some reason when Annie was wearing their clothes it made her feel better. He guessed that big and baggy always made somebody feel more comfortable. Matt also knew that she had a drinking problem but he had no clue as to how to help her with it. He couldn't let Vince know about it because she would be suspended and sent to rehab and it would mess up everything that they had been working for and Annie probably would refuse rehab, just like Jeff had. It was as if those two shared the same mind when it came to trying to fix their problems.

The only thing that Matt could do was be there for her and try to save her from becoming like her dad. She always said that she didn't want to end up like him but she was turning into him more and more every day. Maybe that was the angle that he could play up in order to get her to stop drinking. Tell her that she was becoming her dad.

Matt called the airport first thing in the morning to get their flight changed to later in the afternoon to go home. They only needed to make an appearance on Raw and none of the house shows so they were supposed to be flying out at 10 but he knew that Annie wouldn't be ready to go by then.

He went in to Annie's room to check on her and she had one leg dangling off the bed and the blanket was thrown off of the bed. Jeff was hugging his pillow and trying to find the blanket to pull over his body. Jeff opened his eyes slowly and saw Matt standing there in a pair of sweatpants.

"Is she okay," Matt asked.

"Yeah, she's just sleeping it off."

"I changed our flight to later so go back to sleep."

Matt walked over and grabbed the blanket off the floor and laid it over Jeff and Annie. Jeff thanked him before closing his eyes again and going back to sleep.

**A/N:  
Please let me know what you think.  
Do you like were this is going or are you pissed off  
Any feedback is good.  
Thanks for reading  
~Sabrina~**


	4. Intervention

Chapter 4

Once Jeff had dropped Annie off at home he had a few things that he needed to take care of. He knew that he was going to need to help Annie through this and it was going to be hard to get it across to her that drinking was starting to destroy her. He wound through the woods until he reached a familiar house. He put his car in park and then hesitantly walked up to the door and knocked on it.

"Jeff," Annie's mom stated. "What's wrong? Is Annie okay?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute," he asked.

"Sure, come on in." She stepped aside and showed him to the living room. He sat down on the couch and put his head in hands while Elizabeth sat down in a chair across from him. "What's going on Jeff?"

"I think that I'm going to need you help with Annie."

"What's going on?"

"She's been drinking again and I don't know how to help her. She went out last night with a co-worker and said that she was only going to have one or two drinks but when I went down to get her at 3 she was all but falling over. I can't sit back anymore and watch her kill herself. I don't know how to help her."

"It's not going to be easy," Liz stated. "I can't believe that she is doing this to herself. She watched her dad and her brother go through this and she is still drinking her life away. After that car accident I figured that it was going to make her stop."

"And all it did was stop her from driving when she is drinking. I'm just so worried about her."

"I don't know where to even begin. We could try an intervention," Liz said.

"That probably won't work. She's stubborn, we both know that, and it's going to take more than that."

"She is going to need to be monitored. I don't mind keeping an eye on her when she's home but you, Matt and Shawn need to keep an eye on her when you guys are on the road."

"We can even get Crystal to help. She was there last night and had no idea how to help her or make her stop. But if she thinks that she has somebody on her side that isn't spying on her or babysitting her then maybe it would be better."

"That's a good idea but we do need to do something. I have been thinking about helping my daughter for a long time and I think the best way to do it is to make her think she is her dad."

"That was my thinking too. I know how angry she is with him for everything that he has done and maybe we can make her look at it in a way that she can understand. Maybe we can use the future as a way to scare her. What if we tell her about when she has kids would she want them to be like this? To look at her the way that she looks at her dad."

"That sounds like a good plan. Maybe it will knock some sense into her."

"When did you want to do it?"

"Tomorrow is good for me. When do you guys need to be back?"

"We are leaving on Friday."

"It's enough time to really make her see the light. Where is she now?"

"At home sleeping, I came here straight from her house."

"Could you go and spend the night with her? I know that it's a lot to ask but I really can't tonight. I have to go to the doctor first thing in the morning."

"Is everything okay," Jeff asked.

"Yes, it's just a regular checkup, nothing to worry about."

"Okay so did you want to meet at her house tomorrow at about 11?"

"Sounds perfect to me. I'll call her brother and see if he can be there. Is there any way that you could call Matt and see if Shawn could fly up? I know that he doesn't get much time at home but from his past I think that he'd want to be here for this."

"Not a problem, I will call them on the way to her house."

"And try to get rid of all the alcohol in her house."

"I will do that. Thanks Liz."

"Anything for you two."

Jeff stood up and gave her hug. After Jeff's mom had passed away Liz was there for him like a mother would be. It took him a long time to look at her as a mother because he didn't want anybody to replace his mom. Liz had been there for him and for Matt, trying to go to as many of their games as she could in order to make them feel like they still had a mom. She was one of the most kindhearted people that he knew.

Once Jeff got to his car he called Shawn.

"Jeff is everything okay," he answered the phone.

"Not really but I was wondering if you could fly up here tomorrow. Do you remember what we talked about?"

"Is it that bad?"

"She was up all night getting sick," Jeff stated sadly.

"Then I will catch the first flight out."

"I know that it will mean a lot to her for you to be here. Thanks."

"You're welcome Jeff and I will be there by 10."

"Sounds good to me. I will see you tomorrow and thank you again."

"Not a problem," Shawn stated.

Jeff then called Dani.

"Hey pretty girl."

"Hey you," she stated. "Are you home?"

"I just got into town."

"How was your trip?"

"Exhausting. We had so much to do in so little time. It was like we never stopped moving."

"And by we you mean Annie?"

"Yeah, we are in a relationship on screen which means we need to do everything together. You know that there is nothing going on between us."

"I know, you've told me that. So when do I get to see you?"

"How about tomorrow afternoon? I'm going home to go to bed and then I'm spending the morning with my dad," Jeff lied. Sometimes it was easier for Jeff to lie to Dani then to tell her the truth. She wouldn't like to know that he was spending the night at Annie's house or the morning with her. Dani was jealous of her but the two had never even met.

"Sounds good to me," Dani stated. She had seen the way that Jeff and Annie had acted towards each other last night on TV and she was upset by it. She knew that it was only acting but it still hit her hard that Jeff was with somebody else. "I guess I will see you then. My place or yours?"

"Mine is fine. I want to spend some time with Jack."

"Alright I will see you tomorrow," Dani stated. "Sleep well."

"You too."

Jeff hung up the phone and then made the drive back to Annie's house. He would call Matt in the morning and let him know everything that was going on. Jeff sat outside of Annie's house for a few minutes for he grabbed his bag and headed inside. He out his bag down in his room before walking into hers.

"Jeff," she asked hoarsely. "Why are you here?"

"I could let you stay by yourself when you're sick. You've done it on more than one occasion for me so I figured I would return the favor."

"Thank you," she stated quietly before lowering the covers for him to in. "Come on, you must be tired too."

"I am," he stated before climbing into bed with her. Annie smiled to herself because it was nice to have someone there when she was sick, self-inflicted or not. She then drifted off to sleep, counting Jeff's breathes in order to help her mind get off of her headache.

Jeff woke up early the next morning so he could set up for the intervention of sorts that they were planning for Annie. He stepped outside to call Matt.

"Is everything okay," Matt answered.

"You know, Shawn answered the same way when I called him last night."

"If you needed to talk to Shawn then something is wrong. Is Annie okay?

"Yes and no…she needs help Matt."

"And this coming from you," Matt stated angrily. "Remember when we tried to help you."

"I understand that Matt and I know that she is going to use it against me but she needs you Matt. Shawn will be here soon and her mom and brother are coming. I just need you to call daddy and I'm going to see if Shannon and Julie can come too. Will you be here?"

"Let me think about it."

"Can you call daddy."

"Yeah."

"Please Matt, neither of us wants to lose her."

Jeff hung up the phone and called Shannon.

"Hey bro, what's up," Shannon asked.

"I need your help."

"With what?"

"Annie is getting worse and me and Liz talked last night. We are sitting down with her today at 11. I think she would love it if you and Julie were there."

"What happened this time?"

"She went out with a friend from work and she was only supposed to have a few drinks and I ended up needing to carry her back to her room…again."

"When was the last time she was like this," Shannon asked. He had known Annie to drink too much occasionally but a lot of people do that. He just needed to know if it was starting to become a bigger issue.

"She was this bad when we were home last week. She shouldn't be drinking to the point of getting sick every week. I'm just afraid to lose her."

"Have you talked to her about Dani yet? Or have you let Dani know about this intervention?"

"No and no. I'm trying to keep the two separated from each other."

"You need to let Annie know that Dani exists," Shannon told him. "It's not going to turn out good when she does find out."

"I know Shannon but she doesn't need that right now."

"If you feel so strongly about this then why are you even dating Dani? You know that you and Annie belong together."

"Why does everybody keep telling me that? Annie has never showed any romantic interest in me and vice versa. Why would I ruin my relationship over that?"

"Just because you keep deny thing that you have feelings for her doesn't mean that they don't exist. You two belong together."

"Are you coming or not," Jeff stated angrily.

"We'll be there because we are worried about her. I remember how her dad was and I don't want that happening to her."

"I will see you then. We aren't mentioning rehab or anything like that but just that we are here for her."

"She wouldn't go to rehab anyways. She's as stubborn as you are."

"This I know but I will see you later."

"This is a good thing that you're doing Jeff," Shannon stated sincerely. "Don't let what I've said made you think any differently."

"Thanks man."

Jeff hung up his phone and went into the house. He cleaned up a little bit before sitting on the couch to watch TV. He worried about how today would go. When they pulled the same thing on him he wouldn't talk to anybody for a few weeks and he didn't want that to happen to Annie. His phone then rang around 9.

"Hello," he answered.

"I'm lost," Shawn yelled. "I've only been here once."

"Where are you?"

"I don't know I'm surrounded by woods. That's all it is out here."

"What was the last house that you passed?"

"A huge brick house."

"You must have passed Matt's house. Just go down the road and take a right in about a mile. Then drive for about 5 miles and take a right. Her house is the first one on the left."

"Alright."

"You should have gotten the GPS with the car."

"I did but apparently satellites don't hit Cameron."

"Okay you should be coming up on the right hand turn, it's unmarked."

"Of course it is."

"You're actually on my dad's property once you turn. It's a shortcut to her house that we had paved."

"This is not paved," Shawn complained bouncing up and down on the dirt road in his rented Chevy Malibu.

"Give it a minute. Annie didn't want anybody to be able to find her house."

"Mission accomplished." Shawn hung up the phone and continued driving down the makeshift road. If Annie worried about anybody being able to find her house there was no worries.

10 minutes later Shawn was pulling into her driveway. Jeff's car was in the expansive driveway and her house seemed like it just came out of the trees. Her two story house looked like an old country home but it was clear that it was new. Shawn and Rebecca had come up with their kids when Annie had her house warming party.

Shawn grabbed the grocery bags out of his car along with his duffle bag of clothes before going up to her door. Jeff let him in and took the grocery bags from him. "Why did you bring food," Jeff asked confused putting the bags on the counter.

"So I could cook her some breakfast. She'll need some nutrition in her system."

"And you're staying?"

"Yeah, Becca told me that I could take my time with her and stay as long as I need to. I just haven't been able to spend much time with her lately."

"Thanks for coming Shawn, it will mean a lot to her to have you here."

"I've been in her shoes and I know how hard it is to quit. I'm here as long as she needs me to be."

"Thanks again, you're like a dad to her."

Shawn smiled and started to look through the cabinets. He pulled out 3 liquor bottles.

"Time to drain these," Shawn asked holding them up. Jeff nodded as he took the bottles and poured the alcohol down the drain. Shawn continued to look through the cabinets, fridge, freezer and her bar to get every drop of alcohol out of the house.

"I never realized she had this much," Jeff stated looking at the counter of empty beer, wine and liquor bottles.

"None of us knew. Why don't you put all of these in the recycling while I get breakfast started?"

"What are we having?"

"Eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes."

"Pancakes are her favorite," Jeff stated as he started to bring the bottles to the garage. Shawn heard the shower start upstairs and he knew that Annie was awake. He would let her think everything was fine until everybody else got there. Jeff had to take a lot of trip back and forth to the garage until all of the bottles were gone.

Shawn was just about finished with breakfast when Annie started to walk down the stairs.

"What's for breakfast Jeff," she asked before she got to the bottom of the stairs. "You're not Jeff," she stated bluntly before running over to Shawn and giving him a hug. "What are you doing here Pops?"

"I came to see you. Jeff told me that you were sick so I wanted to make you feel better."

"So you flew here from Texas to make me feel better," Annie asked. "What about Becca?"

"She insisted that I come. She wanted to make sure you were okay too."

"Thanks for coming," she said while hugging him.

Shawn felt bad that he couldn't tell her why he was really there. Annie needed help and he thought by talking to her about his past it might help. Breakfast turned out well and Annie, Jeff and Shawn joked around before Annie tried to get up.

"Where are you going," Jeff asked.

"I was just going to get some juice."

"I'll get it," Shawn stating beating her to the fridge. He didn't want her to notice that all of her alcohol was missing until everybody was there. Shawn poured her another glass of orange juice when there was a knock on the door. Jeff went to answer it.

"Hi Liz," he stated opening the door and giving her a hug. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," she said receiving his hug. "I heard that my daughter was sick, where is she?"

"In the kitchen finishing up breakfast with Shawn."

Liz made her way into her daughter's kitchen and found her sitting at the table finishing her breakfast. "Hey sweetie," she stated kissing her on the top of the head.

"Mom, what are you doing here?"

"I haven't seen you in forever and Jeff told me that you were sick."

"He's been telling a lot of people that. Mom, you remember Shawn?"

"Of course, how are you," she asked him.

"I'm doing great, how are you?"

"I'm okay."

Liz sat down at the table as Shawn finished cleaning everything. Annie got up to help but neither Jeff nor Shawn would let her help. She and her mother went to sit in the living room to catch up and talk to each other. When her brother AJ showed up, then Shannon and Julie she knew something was going on.

"Jeff," she asked taking him aside in the kitchen. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean," he asked.

"Why is everybody here? It's not like I have cancer."

"No but you do have a disease."

Annie looked at him in confusing as he led her back to the living room. Jeff's dad had showed up while they were in the kitchen.

"Annie," Jeff said. "I know that you don't think that something is wrong with you but we are all worried about you."

"Seriously Jeff, you of all people are pulling this on me."

"I know that I have no right to say this to you," Jeff said calmly.

"But I do," her mother interjected. "Baby, I'm worried about you. I don't want you to turn out like your dad."

"And I've been able to clean up my act," AJ stated. "It's not going to be easy but you have a lot of people around you that want to help you."

"So you're going to send me to rehab," Annie insinuated.

"No, that's not what we're doing," Shawn said. "All that we want to do is help you. You don't want you kids looking at you in a bad way someday. We just want you to be around for a long time."

"When you got into that car accident," Liz stated. "I was so afraid that I was going to lose you. I don't want that to happen again, it can't happen again," she said with tears starting to go down her cheeks. "I love you Annie and I don't want anything bad to happen because of this."

"I've had a lot of experience with this sort of thing," Jeff stated. "It might not have been with alcohol but it was an addiction and I don't want you to have to hit rock bottom before you do anything about it because it may be too late by then."

"I understand where you guys are coming from but I don't think that this is really that big of an issue. So what if I drink occasionally?"

"You didn't see all of the alcohol we found," Shawn stated. "Before you woke up Jeff and I got rid of all of your alcohol and if you could see how much we had to get rid of then maybe you would think that it was an issue."

"It's not all for me. I keep alcohol here for when I have people over my house. This is kind of where people like to hang out."

"You're like a daughter to me," Gil, Jeff's father, stated. "I hate to see you doing this to yourself. We've been through this with Jeff and now it's time for you to realize that this is a problem."

"I know that this isn't going to help you," Shawn stated. "Everybody sitting here and telling you that you have a problem but you need to realize that you are turning out to be an alcoholic. You've told me that you don't want to turn into your father but you are and if you don't stop drinking then you are going to end up isolating yourself from everybody. We just want you to realize that there is a problem before it is too late."

"We are here for you," Julie said. "We know what you're going through is hard and is going to continue to be but we are here as your friends and your family."

"And we will do everything we can to be there for you," Shannon concluded.

Annie hung her head down in defeat and started to cry softly. She didn't think that it was an issue to have a few drinks now and then but her family history made that kind of impossible. She had always said that she wasn't going to turn out like her dad and here she was with all of her family and friends, except for Matt, and everybody was telling her that she had a problem. She looked up when she saw the door open and Matt was standing in the doorway. He looked at her for a long time before he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"I know," Matt whispered in her ear. "It's a lot to take in but you need help. I didn't want to be here because I don't agree with how they are doing this but we all care about you Annie. Our lives wouldn't be the same without you here."

Annie nodded her head as she continued crying on Matt's shoulder. Everybody watched their exchange and they knew that Matt had been the key all along. Jeff knew that if Matt hadn't shown up that Annie might not have realized that she had a problem. Matt being there had meant that everybody that cared about her was there.

"Are you okay," Jeff asked putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry that we had to do this to you but I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I care about you too much for that."

Annie looked up at Jeff from Matt's shoulder and put a small smile on her face. She let go of Matt and got out of her chair to give Jeff a hug. He held her for a few minutes and she let go, looking around the room at everybody. She made her way around the room hugging everybody and thanking them for showing up. It wasn't going to be easy to try and quit drinking but she knew that she had to, she had been meaning to for quite a while. Hopefully everything would turn out okay.

**A/N:  
Let me know what you guys think about the story  
What do you want to happen?  
Reviews make me write faster**


	5. DENAIL DENAIL DENAIL

Chapter 5

"Honestly pops," Annie stated. "You don't need to stay. Mom and I are going to have a mother-daughter day."

"Well Becca pretty much kicked me out of the house so that I could come and make sure that you were okay. Why don't you and your mom spend the day together and I get you tonight?"

"Good compromise."

"It's going to turn out okay, I believe that," Shawn stated before walking into the living room.

After the intervention everybody but Liz and Shawn left. Jeff went off to see Dani, although Annie didn't know that, and everybody else just wanted to enjoy the little time that they did get home enjoying themselves. Liz and Annie left shortly afterwards to go shopping and go and get their hair done.

"What are you doing," Liz asked her daughter. "You love your hair black."

"I know but I talked to Vince and he suggested that I go purple. He thought that it would complement Jeff more if I had hair like his."

"Please never dye your hair that many colors. I love the boy but really, it's ridiculous sometimes."

"This won't be too bad. I'm just going to do purple highlights. It will only be really noticeable on camera."

"I'm glad that I get to do this with you," Liz stated grabbing her hand from the other salon chair. "I wish that I could spend more time with you."

"I know that it must be hard on you to have me gone all of the time and I feel really bad about that. I wish that I could be here more for you."

"But it's not like you moved away and left me here all alone. Traveling is part of your job and if I get to see you only once a week then that's what I can live with. I'm just glad that you realized everything this morning."

"It wasn't really easy for me to do. I hate to admit anything that I've done wrong."

"I know that and that's why your Christmas presents were addressed to 'It wasn't me' one year."

"That was pretty clever," Annie laughed as the hair stylist came over to her. She explained quickly what she wanted done and the girl seemed to understand. The bleach came first in order to give her hair the ability to be dyed and then the purple came after the dye was washed out and blow dried.

Liz looked at her daughter and the purple was more noticeable than she thought it would be but it didn't look bad. It was like she had purple and black stripped hair but it seemed to suit her very well. Liz couldn't believe the woman that Annie had grown up to be. Sure she wasn't a doctor that Liz wanted her to be when she was little but she was doing a job that she loved and that she could support herself on.

"So when are you going to settle down," Liz asked at a late lunch. "I'm getting old here and I want grandbabies someday."

"I don't know mom. It's not like I haven't dated but there is always something missing for me."

"I don't know if you will ever see it the way that everybody else sees it."

"Are you on the 'you and Jeff should be together' kick too?"

"I've always been the leader of that group along with Ruby. She always thought that you two would end up together."

"Mom if Jeff and I haven't tried dating in the 25 years that we have been friends then why would we start now?"

"I just think that you two are both stubborn and neither of you would be the first one to admit to liking the other."

"I would have to admit that to myself first."

"Doesn't this storyline make you think about it?"

"Of course it does but just because we are acting doesn't mean that we are going to get together in real life. I don't know if Vince came up with this plan to get us together or if Matt went to him or what but I just don't think that anything is ever going to happen between us."

"Is there anybody else?"

"Mom I work 300 days out of the year and I travel constantly. What kind of person would be patient enough to deal with that?"

"Somebody who will love you no matter what, that has always been there for you or would always be there for you and probably somebody who has the same schedule that you do."

"It's just frustrating," Annie stated sadly. "Everybody believes in their hearts that Jeff and I belong together but it's just not going to happen. Although it would be a cute story and make everybody else happy it's just not the right fit between us."

"Annie, I love you more than anything else in this world so I will stop asking about Jeff and you if it will make you happy."

"It would, thank you."

"You're welcome. So who's Crystal?"

"She's a new diva. Did you watch on Monday?"

"Yes."

"She was the blonde in the blue. She's such a sweetheart and I think that she would make a perfect match for Matt."

"Look who is playing matchmaker."

"Well I feel bad for Matt because he always feels like he is alone because when we are on the road and in public me and Jeff aren't allowed to talk to him so he feels left out. Crystal really is a nice girl and she actually told me that I am her idol."

"Baby that's excellent."

"I think that it's kind of cool. I know that Amy and I pretty much paved the way for women's wrestling today but it's still nice to hear that I'm somebody's idol."

"Just don't let it get to your head," Liz laughed as Annie fittled with the drinks menu. Liz looked at her intently, not wanting to say anything and hoping that she would figure it out on her own. It was always a force of habit that when they went out to dinner that they would get a drink to go with it and it was something that both of them needed to break. Annie frowned as she put the menu down and looked down at the table, with a smile on her face.

"I did it," she whispered to herself with a smile on her face.

"I'm proud of you," Liz stated taking her hand from across the table. "I know that it is going to be hard but you will excel at it. Whenever you put your mind to something you can accomplish it."

"This is a little bit different."

"I know that. Have you talked to your dad?"

"Last night when I got home. I wanted to let him know that he was more than welcome to come to Thanksgiving at my house. Is that okay with you?"

"He is the father of my kids, I'm sure that I can stand to be in the same room as him. We've done it before and I don't mind it at all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's not a problem. Do you need help with anything?"

"No, Jeff and I have it covered."

Liz knew in her heart that Annie and Jeff were supposed to be together considering that they even cooked holiday meals together. Liz and Annie left the restaurant and heading to the grocery store to pick up most of the food for Thanksgiving. It was a week away and they figured they would buy a huge frozen turkey and let it defrost for a week.

Liz dropped Annie off at home while Shawn came out to help with the groceries and other shopping bags. It was actually nice for Annie to come home and have somebody there waiting for her.

"Hey pretty girl," Jeff stated as Dani came in through his kitchen door. "I missed you," he stated wrapping his arms around her and giving her a kiss.

"I missed you too. I hate that you have to travel so much."

"I know and I hate it too but I love my job, you know that."

"Yeah I do. So how was the show?"

"It went over well. People are really reacting in a good way to Annie and me on screen."

"As long as nothing is happening off screen."

"Nothing is going on between us and there has never been anything going on between us. I know that this is probably hard on you to have me acting like I have a different girlfriend but just so you know I come home to see you every week."

"I know that but I can't help but be jealous of this girl. Have you told her about us yet?"

"No but I will once the holidays are over."

"Why are you waiting that long?"

"Because we have our holiday traditions," Jeff stated looking at his girlfriend. She had shoulder length brown hair and green eyes and she was around 5'5" tall. He put his arms around her waist. "I don't want to upset her yet."

"So you are going to upset me by not spending the holidays with me," Dani asked backing away from him. "I never wanted you to have to choose between us but I don't want to spend the holidays away from you just because you guys have traditions. You need to tell her."

"Dani she is going through a lot of messed up stuff right now and I don't want her getting upset over something else."

"What could she be going through? Did she gain too much weight to fit into her ring attire?"

"Don't talk about her like that. If you must know she has a serious drinking problem that she is trying to get over right now. We had an intervention with her this morning to try and get her to stop."

"You told me that you were hanging out with your dad?"

"I was but we were helping her too. She needs to know that her friends and family are here for her. She got really drunk the other night and was up all night puking."

"So you just needed to be the knight in shining armor?"

"I needed to help her. She helped me when I was trying to get off of drugs and it was time for me to return the favor. She needs her friends more so now than ever."

"Jeff I know that we have only been dating since August but this is becoming an issue. It's not that I want you to choose between us but when you are home I want to spend as much time with you as possible."

"I want to see you too, don't get me wrong. I promise for the rest of the time that I am home I will spend my time with you."

"And are you going to tell her?"

"I will, I promise. Maybe I could spend Thanksgiving Day with you and spend the night at her house. She doesn't usually do dinner until 5 anyways."

"I guess that could work."

"Come on, let's go and relax."

Jeff grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into the living room and they sat on the couch with his dog Jack while watching a movie.

Annie got home at about 6 and Shawn helped bring in the groceries from her mother's car. Liz hugged and kissed Annie and gave Shawn a hug before she headed back home. Shawn helped put all of the food away.

"Preparing for Thanksgiving," he asked lifting the 25 pound turkey into the fridge.

"Yeah. I figured that I might not have enough time next week to go shopping so today seemed as good a day as any to get it."

"I like your hair by the way."

"Thanks. I kind of like having somebody here when I come home. I get lonely really quick."

"Is that why you drink," Shawn asked.

"It could be part of it. I know that a lot of people come home to an empty house but it just makes me feel like I'm not good enough for anybody."

"Why would you say that?"

"I've never really had a serious, long term relationship and I'm 33 years old. I know that I put my career above everything else but sometimes I feel like I'm hiding in it," Annie confessed going to the living room and sitting on the couch. Shawn then sat down next to her. "I've always wanted to get married and have kids but maybe it's not in the cards for me."

"This happens to all of us. Look at Matt and Jeff, neither of them are married yet either. There is still time for you to settle down."

"I just don't see it happening. I know that I still have time but I have met everybody in this town and in the company and nobody really stands out to me."

"You'll find somebody baby girl, don't worry about that. I can understand where you are coming from but I don't believe that it is in the cards for you to be alone."

"Pops, I just don't think I'm the marrying kind. When all the other girls where planning their weddings I was planning my ring attire. I've always wanted this and I've been here so long I feel like this is all I'm ever going to do."

"Do you think it's time for a break?"

"I can't take a break now. They just gave Jeff and me a huge push and it will be a slap in the face to ask for a vacation now. Vince has been a little understanding, trying to give us more time off than most people. We haven't really been working too many house shows lately."

"If a break is what you really need then talk to Vince."

"I can't. If I need to quit drinking then I really need to work to keep my mind off of it but a break eventually would be nice."

"You deserve it after all of these years. How long is the storyline?"

"Quite a while. I'm not sure when it will end." Annie paused for a while and leaned her head back. "Thanks for coming and staying. I really didn't want to be alone tonight."

"Where's Jeff?"

"Probably with his friends. I just wasn't into being social tonight otherwise I would probably be there."

"You know that everybody is pulling for you two."

"Yeah I know that but like I told my mom, it's not going to happen. If we haven't figured it out in 25 years it's not going to happen."

Annie turned her attention back to the TV and focused on whatever show had been on. It was going to be hard for her to quit drinking but it was for her own good. Her phone rang about an hour later.

"Hey Matt, what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you needed a friend tonight."

"Well Shawn is here with me but you are more than welcome to come over and hang out with us if you wanted to. I'm sure I could use a friend to sleep with."

"Oh so you want to use me for my love making skills," Matt joked.

"No I just hate sleeping alone and I'm sure Shawn's wife wouldn't appreciate him in my bed."

"What would you do if Jeff or I ever got married?"

"I'd have to deal with being alone but I don't see that happening anytime soon."

"I'll see you in a few then," Matt stated hanging up the phone. He hated the fact that Jeff wasn't telling Annie about Dani and she had no clue what was going on. He knew that he was caught in the middle and that it would only get worse as time went on.

Matt packed himself a bag before going over to Annie's house. When he entered Annie's she had her feet kicked up onto Shawn's lap.

"What are you guys watching," he asked putting his bag down by the door.

"The Book of Eli," Annie stated. "We literally just put it on."

Matt made his way to the recliner and put his feet up. The three of them sat and watched the movie and when it was over Shawn got up to make dinner.

"You don't need to cook Pops," Annie stated. "We can just order take-out."

"And take the chance of them getting lost, not a chance. Plus I miss cooking when I'm on the road."

"I guess you've convinced me."

Shawn started to cook leaving Annie and Matt alone in the living room.

"I like the hair," Matt stated. "Very Jeff like."

"That's what I figured. If we are dating I guess that I can afford to look a little strange."

"It seemed to go over well, you and Jeff I mean."

"The fans seem to like it and neither Jeff nor I have ever done anything like this so it's a huge shock. You and Crystal seem great together too."

"Well Vince wanted us to be more in your face than you and Jeff, it's just acting anyways."

"But you two seem to have connected. She talked a lot about you the other night," Annie mentioned.

"Yeah and what did she say?"

"All nice things. She seems to dig you."

"You know how I feel about dating in the company, after what Amy did."

"I know that but Crystal is not Amy. You just need to give her a chance and I'm sure she will prove you wrong."

"I think maybe I will take my time with it. I'm still starting to get to know her and I don't really know if I'm ready to start dating in the company again."

"Take your time Matt but don't count it out okay?"

"I could say the same thing."

"Don't even start. I'm so sick of everybody saying that and nothing will ever happen with Jeff. You and I have gone over this before and I don't understand why you are bringing it up more now than you ever have before."

"I don't know," Matt replied but he knew in his mind that he was mentioning it constantly for a reason. He knew that Jeff was dating Dani and it might possibly become more serious than he had originally thought. He could see the dream of Jeff and Annie flying out the window more and more every day. After dinner Shawn called it a night because he had an early morning to get to Annie's house in time for the intervention, while Matt and Annie stayed up late and talked.

"Do you think that you are going to be okay with the drinking?"

"I should be okay. I feel fine now and I will be fine as long as I am around people. I don't know what I will do if I'm by myself for a night like this knowing that you guys are out having fun or drinking or doing whatever else. I don't have many friends besides you and Jeff."

"Your mom wouldn't mind spending more time with you and I'm sure daddy could use some company once in a while. AJ said that he would be willing to hang out with you and do whatever you want, which is more than anybody would ask of him."

"And I love that even with all of this going on Pops would stay here and you mention daddy but nowhere in any of the conversations is my dad mentioned."

"I think he would probably be a bad influence on you right now."

"I understand that but it would be nice for him to care once in a while. I feel like I keep trying and trying with him and he keeps on disappointing me. When are we in North Carolina again?"

"After Thanksgiving."

"Maybe I will get him some ringside seats and give him a ride and maybe he might actually come. I would love for him to be there."

"Let me see what I can do. I know that you would love to have him there and it's such a shame out of all of the times that we have come through the area your dad can't be bothered to come and see you."

"I guess it would be a holiday miracle if he actually showed up."

"You never know, people may surprise you."

Annie nodded and Matt looked at her thoughtfully. He had no idea how he was going to get Annie's dad to go to a show but it was something that he needed to do for his best friend. It wouldn't do her drinking any good to not have her father show up because it could possibly lead her to drink again. Hopefully Jeff could come and see Annie in the morning so Matt could take the half hour drive to her father's house and hopefully talk some kind of sense into him.

"Are you ready for bed," Matt asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I think that might be a good idea. I feel like I have done nothing but sleep lately but there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing right now than sleep in my own bed."

"Did you still want me to stay over," he asked getting off of the couch.

"Of course, you know how I am Matt. You can't say no to me in my fragile state anyways."

"I know that but I do need to let you in on piece of information in case you want to try anything funny."

"And what is that?"

"Well between Jeff, Shannon and I we have talked to every owner and worker at a liquor store and bar within a 40 mile radius to your house and you are not to purchase any alcohol."

"Wow, you guys really think that I'm that bad off?"

"We are just trying to help you," Matt stated sincerely. "We just don't want you to be alone one night and drive down to One Stop and think that you can buy alcohol to ease the pain and none of us will ever know."

"Thanks for the heads up," Annie stated locking the front door before heading up the stairs with Matt right behind her. She entered her room and Matt put his bag down on the bed.

"It would be nice to spend the night at my own house."

"You don't have to stay here."

"But I'm here for you and you need me right now. Maybe we could stay at my house tomorrow."

"That might be a plan. I would do it tonight but I don't want Shawn to wake up and not have anybody else here. That would be a little weird for him."

"Understandable but it is definitely my house tomorrow. Lucas misses you."

"I know he does. Where is he?"

"I dropped him off at Jeff's on the way here. That way Jack could have a play buddy."

"You could have brought him here. The more company the better."

"Come on, it's time for bed."

Matt changed in Annie's room while she went into her bathroom to get changed. After getting ready for bed in a pair of baggy sweatpants and an old Hardyz t-shirt she crawled into bed next to Matt as he leaned over and turned the light off. She rolled onto her side with her back touching Matt's body and fell asleep almost instantly.

**A/N: Let me know what you guys think  
If you want more action let me know and I can work it in  
Do you want more on-screen and less personal stuff?  
The next chapter will be coming soon and this one would have been up earlier had I not lost my USB port  
Please leave a review, good, bad or suggestions  
**


	6. Marble Cake

**A/N: Thanks guys for sticking with me. I know there are a few of you that are reading.  
Here is chapter 6**

Chapter 6

"Why are you up so early," Dani asked Jeff as he looked around his room for a pair of jeans.

"Matt stayed at Annie's last night and he needs me to go to the store for something."

"Anything that I can help you with," she asked sincerely. Jeff looked at her with a confused look on his face. "What, I'm trying here."

"Matt was thinking that she may want a pet so at least she has someone to come home to after a road trip. He already cleared it with my dad so that he can look after her dog while we are gone."

"I think that would be a good idea. Maybe you won't need to spend as much time with her."

"Dani don't start with that this early in the morning."

"Sorry, force of habit. Did you want me to help and pick him or her out?"

"I guess that would be okay. Maybe we could go out to breakfast first."

"Sounds good to me, give me 15 minutes."

Dani got out of bed and quickly gave Jeff a kiss before heading into the bathroom to get ready. Jeff took the dogs out and then continued to pace in the living room waiting for Dani to get ready to go. It probably wasn't the best idea to have his girlfriend there when he was picking out a puppy for Annie but he felt bad for excluding Dani so much. Jeff wished that it was easier to balance his life between Annie and Dani but it wasn't. Once Dani was done they headed out to the local diner for breakfast and then headed over to the puppy store that was in the mall to hopefully pick out Annie's new companion.

Matt was up and out of Annie's house early to accomplish the one thing that nobody thought could be done. He had called Vince to get a few ringside seats for the upcoming show and then headed off towards Annie's father's house. It took him almost an hour to get there, not quite sure if he remembered where he lived.

He pulled up the driveway and parked his car before knocking on the door. Ted answered the door with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Matt what are you doing here," he answered letting him inside.

"I just wanted to talk to you about Annie really quick. I'm not sure if she's talked to you lately."

"She called me the other night but what's going on?"

"We had an invention for her yesterday because her drinking was becoming a problem and I just thought that I would let you know."

"Thanks for the info. Anything else?"

"Well we are having a show the Monday after Thanksgiving and Annie would love for you to go. I already have the ticket for you and she wanted you to ride with us. She has been wrestling for 10 years in the WWE and you've never gone to a show. I think it is something that would really help her right now."

Ted sat in thought for a moment and put his head in his hands.

"I really messed up didn't I," he whispered. "My daughter probably hates me."

"She doesn't hate you Ted, believe that. There is still time to make it right."

"I would love to go but if you don't mind I'd rather surprise her there. Is there any way for me to go up on my own and get backstage?"

"I could arrange that. If you need a car or anything else we wouldn't mind helping with that."

"So don't tell her anything and I will be there."

"Jeff and I will keep it a secret, I promise."

"What has she been up to with work? She wouldn't tell me on the phone the other night. When I asked she just changed the subject."

"She and Jeff are in a storyline together and they are dating on-screen and she probably didn't want to freak you out."

"I don't know why that would freak me out. Those two look like they are dating anyways."

"And you're coming to Thanksgiving?"

"Yes I will be there."

"Alright so I will get you the ticket sometime next week and I will talk to Vince about letting you backstage but I don't think that it will be an issue. It would be better for her to cry backstage than in the ring."

"Do you really think that she will cry?"

"She cried that night in high school when you made it to her softball game so I'm sure not much has changed since then."

"Is anybody else going to the show?"

"I was thinking that my dad and Liz might be there."

"Could AJ go with me?"

"I'm sure that won't be a problem, it will be a nice gesture for Annie to have her entire family there, good thinking."

"I figure if I'm doing this then I should probably do it right. Does she have a shirt?"

"I can get you one of those also."

Matt smiled at Ted across the table. It seemed like they were making progress in helping Ted get back on Annie's good side. Matt left almost as soon as their conversation ended because Ted needed to go to work.

"I'm going to bring this to her," Jeff stated to Dani holding the little puppy. "But I will be back in a few hours."

"Alright maybe I will do some shopping and possibly cook you dinner if you're good."

"I promise that I will be good," Jeff laughed wrapping his arms around her waist. "She is going to love him."

"It's a good thing I have such good taste."

"He's a little ball of fur. I should get going so he can meet his mom."

"She will love him and I love you," Dani stated.

"I love you too," Jeff smiled before kissing her.

Dani was actually being more understanding of Jeff and Annie's relationship and it was good for him to see. Maybe Annie and Dani could actually get along and could possibly be friends. He didn't understand why he was keeping it a secret from her. Jeff loved Dani and it was about time that he told Annie that he was in a relationship.

Jeff drove over to Annie's house with her new puppy in his lap. Shawn saw him drive up and went to get Annie.

"Annie somebody is down here that I want you to meet," he yelled up to her. She groggily got out of bed and headed down the stairs. Her hair was a mess and she felt like she slept for the entire day but when Jeff walked in the house holding the little ball of fur she shrieked and ran over to him.

"His name is Marble but the guy said that you could change his name."

"Oh my god," she shrieked taking the dog from Jeff's arms. "He's so cute and little."

"He's a dachshund and Pomeranian mix and he will actually only be about 15 pounds."

"How old is he?"

"About 2 months."

"Thank you," she stated sincerely before jumping into Jeff's arms. "This is one of the sweetest things you've ever done for me." Annie held up Marble to look at him in the eyes. "You're so cute," she said to him.

He was tiny and Annie could hold him in one hand. He had gold and black fur with a black streak of fur going down his back. His fur was so long that he looked like a little fluff ball. He had big brown eyes and the cutest little face that anybody had ever seen.

"I'm glad that you like him. I figured you would like to have somebody to come to at the end of the day."

"Thank you Jeff, I can't tell you how much this means to me." She hugged the dog tightly and smiled. It was the first time in a while that Jeff had seen her so happy. Maybe the fact that she was so happy it would finally be time to tell her about Dani.

"Can I talk to you about something," he asked leading her to the living room. Shawn shot Jeff a look and he nodded. Shawn stood with his mouth wide open but Jeff ignored it. It was either he did this now or not at all. Annie sat down on the couch with Marble in her lap and Jeff sat across from her.

"What's up Jeff," Annie asked sincerely. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened but I wanted to tell you about somebody."

"Who?"

"Her name is Dani. I wanted to tell you that I have a girlfriend."

Annie sat in silence for a minute taking it all in. "How long," she whispered.

"Since August."

Annie let it sit in and tried to hold her anger in. "How could you," she yelled. "I'm supposed to be your best friend and you've waited 3 months to tell me that you have a girlfriend. Jeff we've been sleeping in the same bed and with this storyline…God I never would have done it if I knew that you had a girlfriend."

"Annie this doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything. You've told me about girlfriends in the past but why not this one? Jeff you're my best friend and you kept this a secret from me. How could you," she whimpered. "And you wait until now to tell me, after you already stage my intervention and I'm vulnerable enough to begin with. Jeff, come on, really. If you kept this a secret from me then how do I know that you haven't kept other things from me? I don't think that I can trust you anymore."

Jeff lowered his head down as Annie started to cry softly holding onto Marble for dear life. Even though Jeff had given him to her there was no way that she could give him up no matter how mad she was at Jeff.

"Get out," she whispered with force. "We are co-workers that's it. If you think that we can still be friends after this then you're mistaken. Get out of my house."

Jeff looked at her in shock. He knew that she would be upset by this but not to this extent. He got up off the couch and walked out the door. Once Jeff was gone Shawn slowly made his way into the living room and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her. She crumbled into his chest and cried softly. He rubbed circles on her back as she cried into his body.

"How could he do this," she repeated over and over again. Shawn just stayed quiet and let her cry. Marble sat in her lap, shaking, and she looked down at him. "Sorry little guy," she whispered. He looked up at her and then licked her face. She laughed quietly. "You are really cute."

Shawn laughed a little bit. "Let me go and call Becca okay? I will just go with you to the next show."

"Pops you don't have to do that. I will be fine."

"Don't worry about it, you're going through a lot right now and Becca will understand."

He kissed the top of her head before going outside.

"How is she," Becca asked when she answered the phone.

"She is going through a lot. On top of the drinking problem now Jeff told her about his girlfriend."

"Why would he do that now? He should have waited to tell her."

"That's what I was thinking. She's already trying to go through so much and now she feels like she has lost her best friend."

"Stay then," Becca stated. "We are fine down here and as long as you are back next week we will be okay without you."

"Are you sure?"

"I know that you look at Annie like a daughter and if you are what she needs to feel better than I'm not going to be the one to take that away from her."

"You are really more understanding than I deserve."

"Shawn you are great person and Annie is a great friend to all of us. Don't think that I would ever keep you away from her."

"Thank you Becca. I love you."

"I love you too. Now go back inside and help the poor girl."

"I will."

"I love you Shawn."

"I love you too."

Becca hung up the phone. "Cam," she asked. "Do you want to go and visit daddy?"

Cameron nodded his head. "Where are we going?"

"North Carolina. Your aunty Annie needs help."

Cameron ran up the stairs to his room to pack a bag while Becca brought Cheyenne upstairs with her to pack them both a bag. It would be a nice surprise for Annie to see Cameron. Cameron always seemed to put her in a good mood. Becca called the airport and there was a flight leaving for Charlotte in a few hours.

"Is everything okay," Annie asked as he walked back in the house.

"She told me to stay so I guess that you're stuck with me."

"Thank you."

"Thank her the next time that you see her," Shawn stated. "So are you going to change his name?"

"I probably should but I'm not going to. He is just so cute and really does look like a marble cake."

Shawn chuckled and Annie focused her attentions back to Marble.

"What do you mean you told her," Matt yelled at his brother. "We are trying to help her and you go and tell her now."

"She was in such a great mood that I figured it wouldn't be such a big deal."

"Jeff she just gave up drinking and you think that losing her best friend is going to help," he continued to yell while starting up his car. "The dog was supposed to help her and now you fucked it all up."

"Matt," Jeff whispered.

"No Jeff, you have the worst timing. I know I'm the one that told you that you needed to tell her but I figured you would have had better timing with it."

"Did you talk to her dad?"

"Of course I did and he said he will be there. You need to get him one of her shirts though, he was pretty animate about it. He is going to go backstage, not that you and Annie will be talking by then."

"Matt I know that you told me to do it sooner but I just got up the nerve to do it today. At least she knows the truth."

"Jeff I just want you to know that I'm probably going to be spending a lot of time with her now because she is probably heartbroken. I'm at her house so I will talk to you later."

"Are we still traveling together?"

"We will see if Annie wants to."

Matt hung up his phone and entered Annie's house. He was greeted by a little ball of fur. He bent over and picked up Marble.

"You are adorable," he stated holding the puppy in front of him. "Jeff did a good job."

"Did he talk to you," Annie asked with red puffy eyes.

"Yeah he did and I'm sorry," Matt said walking towards her with Marble in his arms. "I think what you need is to do some shopping for this little guy."

"Would you do that with me?"

"Of course I would but what about Shawn?"

"He's cleaning my house."

"That man is crazy."

"I know." Annie went to find Shawn to see him doing her laundry. "You don't have to do that pops."

"I know I don't but you're ring attire needed to be cleaned and I figured I could help out around your house to get it presentable for the holidays."

"Thanks but Matt and I were thinking about going shopping for Marble."

"Go right ahead and I will be here."

"You are too good to me."

"I know I am."

Shawn chuckled as Annie and Matt left with Marble to go to Petco and they pretty much bought the entire store. It was funny because it was the first time that Marble was around other dogs. He was very timid and afraid of the bigger dogs that were in the store but it turned out to be a good experience for him before he was introduced to Lucas. Matt and Annie went to Jeff's house to pick up Lucas before going back to her house. Shawn was almost finished with dinner when they got back.

"How was shopping," he asked putting the food on the table.

"Exhausting," Annie answered. "Marble seemed to like the other dogs."

"He and Lucas seem to be getting along too," Matt stated watching the dogs looking at each other. "It's a good thing he's got a buddy."

"I was thinking about taking him with me on the road," Annie stated. "He's small enough to go with us so I figure why not."

"I think that would be okay," Shawn stated.

There was a knock on the door and Annie's face dropped. She didn't want Jeff around yet and she knew that he would try to apologize to her. Matt noticed and went to answer the door.

"Hi Matt," Becca stated. "Is Annie home?"

"She's in the kitchen with Shawn," Matt stated as Cameron went running past him and into the kitchen to hug Shawn's legs.

"Hey buddy," Shawn exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Aunty Annie is sad," he stated running over to her. She picked him up and sat him on my lap.

"Hey little guy," she stated giving him a hug. "You've gotten so big."

"I'm almost 3 feet tall."

"Wow," she answered him. The smile grew on her face as Becca walked into the kitchen with Cheyenne on her hip. She held Cameron as she walked over to her. "Thank you," she stated sincerely. "You guys didn't need to come up here."

"Well Cameron wanted to help you and he missed his dad too," Becca stated pulling her into a hug. "I'm sorry about Jeff."

"It's okay, really. I'm going to be upset with him for a while but it will be okay."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah I'm okay. It's going to be hard with everything else that is going on."

"Aww puppy," Cameron yelled trying to wiggle out of Annie's arms. Annie put him down and Cameron walked over to Marble and Lucas.

"Be careful Cam, he hasn't met any little boys yet."

Cameron approached him cautiously and Marble responded by licking his face. They all laughed and then Shawn set the table for Cameron and Becca.

"So I leave you up here with Annie and you release your cooking on her."

"It's good," Annie stated. "I promise. He's been really great to me."

"I'm glad that he could help. When do you guys go back?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. We are driving up to Richmond and then we come back for Thanksgiving. After that we're in North Carolina."

"Cam," Annie stated. "Do you wanna come to the shows this weekend?"

He nodded his head with a big smile on his face. "I love seeing you wrestle."

"And what about your daddy?"

"He's too old."

Everybody laughed at Cameron and continued to eat their dinner.

"It was so nice for you to come," Annie stated to Becca. "You guys can stay in the guest bedroom and if Cameron wants to he can stay in my room."

"Where will you go," Becca asked.

"We were planning on staying at Matt's house tonight anyways."

"Are you sure? We don't want to be a pain."

"It's about 30 minutes to the closest hotel and I really don't mind. Make yourselves at home."

"Thanks," Becca stated.

"It's the least that I could do after you guys flew all the way up here. We'll be right down the road."

"You're not staying," Cameron stated sadly.

"No but if you are good boy I will tuck you in before I leave. You get the big boy bed tonight."

"I'll be good," he stated to Annie while she smiled at him.

"Come on buddy," Shawn said to Cameron. "It's bath time for you."

Shawn picked him up and carried him upstairs while Annie went over to Marble and picked him up.

"Do you want to stay at Matt's house with Lucas," she asked him. Matt laughed as he grabbed Lucas.

"He is cute," Becca stated. "Did you want to talk about the Jeff situation?"

"No, I'd rather just forget about it," Annie said bitterly. "I just can't believe that he would keep that big of a secret from me."

"It sounds like you want to talk. Matt could you take Cheyenne into the living room so we can talk."

"Sure," Matt said taking Cheyenne from Becca and then went into the living room.

"Are you sure that you're just upset that he kept a secret from you or are you upset because he is dating somebody?"

"I would like to think that I'm mad at him for keeping it from me. We are supposed to be the closest friends in the world and it just seems like that doesn't matter to him. We are going through a lot with our on-screen work and I would never have agreed to do this storyline had I known that he had somebody at home."

"Were you hoping that maybe this would bring up feelings between the two of you?"

"Part of me did, I think, I don't know," Annie stated confused. "I don't know what to think. I'm so angry with him but I know that the universe wants us together."

"I know that it hard to admit but nobody would blame you for having feelings for him."

"Except Dani. I messed everything up because we could have been together all of these years but I've been too stubborn to admit anything. I just think that it's better being friends."

"Have you ever told him?"

"I've never told anybody except for you. When anybody asks me about it I just deny it because it's easier than admitting the truth and it's more of a reflex now than the truth."

"Why is all of this coming up now?"

"Because I'm finally being honest with myself and I guess when I found out about Dani it was kind of like the final nail in the coffin. I wanted to tell him, I did, but now I think all hopes of us have gone out the window."

"I wouldn't give in so easily yet. Maybe you guys can figure it out."

"I really hope that we can because whether we are friends or more I need Jeff in my life. It will just take me a while to be able to trust him again."

"Which is completely understandable?"

Annie and Becca talked for a little while longer until Cameron was done with his bath and Annie took him upstairs to her room and tucked him in. She sat on the side of the bed and read him a bedtime story.

"Aunty Annie," Cameron asked groggily.

"Yeah little man."

"I don't want you to be sad."

Annie smiled sweetly at him. "You just made the happiest girl in the world," she said with a tear in her eye before kissing him on the forehead. "You get some sleep and I'll be here in the morning."

She turned off the light and walked down the hall. She collapsed in the hallway and started balling her eyes out, to the point of an almost anxiety attack. Matt came up and picked her up bridal style walking her out to his car. He put the dogs in the car and drove down to his house. He let Lucas and Marble into the house before going to get Annie. Her face was drowned with tears and she looked so broken. Matt took a deep breath before picking her upstairs and bringing her to his room. He lay down on the bed and held her while she cried all night.

**A/N: Thanks for reading and I will be putting up a link to Marble's picture on my profile  
This is one of my longer chapters and if you're interested to see what happens next leave a review and I will update sooner than usual.  
**


	7. Well That Was Awkward

Chapter 7

Annie woke up after spending the last 2 nights at Matt's house to the realization that she was going to have to see Jeff. It was the one thing about this coming week that she was terrified of. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner for everyone, going out in front of the crowd and giving up drinking didn't terrify her as much as having to see Jeff after everything.

"Come on Annie," Matt stated with a cup of coffee in his hand extending it to her. She sat up and grabbed it from him. "You need to take a shower and then we have the drive up to Richmond."

"That's the last thing that I want to do right now," she told him. Matt sat next to her on the bed and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Why don't you and I drive up there and Jeff can go with Shawn?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Annie told him. "Shawn is about ready to rip his head off and I'm afraid of what pops would do if he was in the car with Jeff for that long. You should go with him and then I'll ride up with Shawn, Becca and the kids."

"Are you sure," Matt asked her. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Trust me this will make me the most comfortable. I don't want to deal with Jeff but I also don't want him to feel like everybody is abandoning him."

"Well what he did wasn't right. I'm not saying that he can't have a relationship but the fact that he hid it from you is what I have an issue with."

"Me too," Annie agreed. "I wouldn't have had him stay with me so many times if I would have known that. I know that if I was dating somebody and I found out he was in some other girl's bed, friend or not, I wouldn't be happy. I just feel like it's my fault."

"Why would you think that," Matt asked. Annie got up from Matt's bed and walked into his bathroom turning the shower on.

"Because I feel like if Jeff and I didn't have this unspoken relationship then maybe he would have told me. You knew didn't you?"

Matt followed her into the bathroom after she had stepped inside the shower and closed the curtain. "Yeah I knew and I was trying to get him to tell you."

"Matt, everybody knew except for me. Why would he keep it from me? Did he really think I would get that upset by it? As far as he knows I don't have any sort of feelings for him so why would he wait?"

"I think that he thought if he waited to tell you then his relationship with her wasn't real. You are the missing piece of the puzzle and I understand that you are upset with him."

"I'm only upset that he didn't tell me, not that he has a girlfriend. We have both had relationships with other people and it's never been an issue for either one of us so why keep Danielle a secret. I feel like now that he views his current relationship a secret because this is going to be the girl that he ends up with."

"If it's up to me," Matt interjected. "You guys will be together in the end. It might take some time once you guys get over this hump. I feel like you guys belong together and so did our mom."

"Your mom," Annie questioned poking her head out of the curtain. She gently touched the necklace that Jeff had given her. "What about your mom?"

"That necklace was given to you by Jeff because our mom always thought that you guys would end up getting married someday."

"I thought my mom was making that up."

"Nope, not at all. Annie everything will work itself out."

"I just don't know how I'm going to face him," she whimpered letting the tears stream down her face. "How am I supposed go out there and pretend that we are dating when I don't even know if I can look him in the face?"

"I guess it's a good thing that we're doing a house show in Roanoke first. That way you only mess up in front of a few thousand instead of millions."

"That's one way of looking at it. I just don't know what to do Matt."

"It will work itself out. It's the holidays so you never know what could happen."

"I just wish that he hadn't told me when he did. It's just so messed up that he would tell me right after you guys held my intervention. I'm not drinking anymore and I lost my best friend in the world."

"Thanks, I feel appreciated," Matt responded with a mouth full of toothpaste. "What am I, chopped liver?"

"You know what I mean Matt," she defended. "You know that you and Jeff are my best friends but Jeff and I have the special relationship."

"Yeah but how many other friends do you have that would have you all naked in the shower and not do anything about it."

"Gross Matt," she exclaimed. "You're like my brother."

"Still this is a little strange."

"You're the one that followed me in here, forgive me for talking to you."

"Annie you know that I'm joking. Nothing could ever happen between us and we both know it."

"However it would be funny to see what Jeff's reaction would be."

"Yeah it would," Matt chuckled. "I don't think that he would ever talk to me again."

"Can you at least hand me a towel," Annie asked as she turned the shower off. She stuck her hand out and Matt handed her a towel. She wrapped it around herself and tried to wipe the tears that were on her face but there was nothing that she could do about her bloodshot eyes. When she stepped out Matt saw the expression on her face in the mirror and turned around to wrap her into a hug. She smiled to herself and took a deep breath in.

"As much as I love you Matt," she stated. "I would really like to be dressed before I'm this close to you," she joked.

"Nothing I haven't seen before," he joked back leaving her to finish getting ready.

Annie dried off and put on a pair of light blue faded baggy jeans and white tank top before putting a white knit hat on. When she walked into Matt's room he had a black fox racing jacket ready for her and their bags sitting on the bed with her title draped over them.

"Okay now we can hug," she stated walking over to him. "Thank you for everything Matt," she whispered into her shoulder.

"Anytime," he replied. "Glad I could help."

They released from each other and smiled before Matt grabbed their bags and she grabbed her title. Once they were in the car heading over to her house her heart started to pound out of her chest. She wanted to get everything over and done with with seeing Jeff but she knew that he was going to be around forever.

They pulled up and they were the last ones there. Becca was putting Cheyenne into her car seat when they arrived. She then realized that there was no way that she was going to sit between 2 cars seats to travel all the way to Virginia so she looked at her Audi. She hadn't planned on driving but realized that maybe this was a good opportunity to be by herself where she couldn't go off and drink because she would be following the rest of them.

"Morning baby girl," Shawn said wrapping her into a hug.

"Morning," she replied. She tried to focus her attention on Shawn and not look around to see Jeff. Maybe she could go a few more hours without talking to him or seeing him. Shawn could tell that something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. I was going to drive with you guys but I don't want to sit in-between Cam and Cheyenne."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No go spend time with your family. I feel like I've already taken enough of your time away from your family. You guys go and have a fun road trip. I'll be fine on my own for a little while."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm good."

Annie grabbed her bag from Matt's car and went into her house to make sure that she had everything that she needed. She grabbed her car keys and checked to make sure that all of the lights were off. She also noticed that her house had never looked that clean. Apparently having Shawn and Becca there they felt the need to clean.

When she went back outside everybody was gone, except for the one person that she really didn't want to talk to leaning against her car.

"Where did they go?"

"They left already," Jeff answered. "Apparently they think that we need to talk."

"And they feel like torturing me with a 3 and a half hour car ride?"

"Is it really so bad that you can't deal with me," Jeff questioned sadly.

"Just get in the car," she ordered him after unlocking the doors. "It's not that I can't deal with you but after everything that's happened it's just hard for me to see you."

"I am so sorry Annie, you know that I would do anything in the world for you. I want you to be happy and I figured that if I had Danielle in my life then you wouldn't be happy."

"It's not that I'm mad at you because you have Danielle in your life it's because you waited so long to tell me. You've been with her for 3 months and you never even mentioned meeting her. We've told each other about past relationships and everything else our entire lives so I don't know why you chose to keep her a secret."

"I didn't want to hurt you," Jeff replied. "I knew that you have been feeling down and lonely these past few months and I didn't want our relationship to change. I still want to be the one that you can come to if you're feeling lonely or sick or whatever else."

"But Jeff, what I don't think you seem to understand is that by lying to me about this it has completely changed our relationship. If you would have just told me it wouldn't be this drastic. Now you've broken my trust and you know I don't handle people lying to me very well. You more than anybody should know that."

"I do understand that. I was going to tell you but something always got in my way. I was going to tell you when I first met her but you just lost your title and you were upset. Then I was going to tell you but then our storyline came up and I know that if I would have told you, you wouldn't have done it."

"No I wouldn't have," Annie yelled. "You're someone else's boyfriend and I don't know Danielle but I'm sure she has an issue relating to our history and the storyline."

"She does have an issue," Jeff sheepishly replied. "But I wasn't going to get suspended again and two, give up this amazing opportunity. We have both done everything in our careers except for this and you are probably the one person that I would actually do this with."

"But I don't think you understand," she tried to get through. "Okay it's a good storyline and I agree with you on the fact that I wouldn't do it with anybody but you but Jeff, you've been sleeping over, taking care of me, snuggling with me. I understand that's how you and I have always been from the time that we were kids but I feel like the other woman. Even though it's just a friendship between us I still feel like I've been cheating."

"That's ridiculous Annie and you know it. I'm not going to change my friendship with you because I'm in a relationship."

"It already had changed," she stated sadly. "It changed the moment that you lied to me."

"So what, you're only going to talk to me at work? Annie we have been best friends for almost 30 years and you're going to throw that all away because I lied to you once. It doesn't make sense to me and I don't know what I would do without you in my life as my best friend."

"I'm sorry about that but for the most part I need a break and I know that we are going through all of this at work but I don't want to be the other woman. I'm sure Danielle is a great girl and maybe we can all be friends but Jeff things have changed. I can't continue hanging out with you anymore, I just can't."

"Why not," he questioned angrily. "This doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything," Annie exclaimed. "If you come over one night to watch a movie, order take out, then we're going to end up smuggling and you'll end up staying over."

"It just sucks that this is what our relationship has come to. We've been snuggling and having sleepovers most of our lives and nothing has ever changed that."

"Maybe that why neither of us are married," Annie blurted out. "Maybe people are intimidated by our relationship and that's why no one has stuck around. I'm 33 years old and I haven't had a serious, long term relationship since high school."

"But do you think that's because of us? Or is it really because, for the last 10 years, you've only been home 2 days, if that, a week and it's impossible or nearly impossible to start a relationship when this is your life?"

"I haven't met anyone who can compare or hold my interest."

"Compare to who?"

"I just get bored with them to easily," she escaped. "I can't get the same out of a relationship that I get with friendships from you and Matt. Even Shawn flies up here and stays to help me. Why is it that nobody sticks? Either something is wrong with me or our friendship is too intimidating. Don't get me wrong I love the fact that I have you guys but I'm getting older. I want to get married and I want to have kids. I feel like I've done everything there is to do in this company. Female wrestlers just don't stay around this long. The only time I haven't been around was after my DUI, my accident and my knee surgery."

"Are you getting burnt out," Jeff questioned.

"Not necessarily but it was hard losing my best friend and alcohol within a few days. I really need you right now but I can't at the same time. It's like the never ending conflict that's going on in my mind."

"I know that I hurt you and I'm extremely sorry for that, it was never my intention. Annie you have to know that you mean more to me than anybody else in the world and I want nothing but the best things. But if right now you need me to back off I will. I'm not saying that it won't be hard because it will. These last 2 days is the longest that we have ever gone without talking or texting. I can't do that."

"Jeff I'm not tell you that you can't talk to me, but I am telling you that we can't have the same relationship that we had, especially because of our storyline. I understand that it's just acting but it's still too much."

"Annie I am truly sorry for not telling you and I feel horrible for when I told you. You were already going through so much and I made it worse."

"I accept your apology but you also need to earn my trust back. It's hard for me to trust people once they've wronged me and the only reason I'm doing it for you is because we've been friends for almost 30 years."

"I truly appreciate that. You know that if you ever need me just call and I'll be there."

"I know that Jeff but I've been going to Matt, which is nice. I've been staying over there because Becca, Shawn and the kids have been staying at my house."

"I feel like such shit for having all of them come up here to stay with you."

"Shawn was already going to stay but Becca and Cam wanted to help me. They came more so for the quitting drinking then you."

"Have you been doing okay with that," he asked sincerely.

"It's only been a few day but I am doing okay. I know that there's no alcohol at my house but Matt has it in his. It's just a good thing that I haven't been alone since all of this happened."

"What have you been doing?"

"I went out to lunch with my mom, got my hair done, pops and I have been hanging out and so have Matt and I. It's really great to be surrounded by this many people. It makes me feel like I'm not so alone after all."

"What did you do with your hair," Jeff questioned looking at her wet hair underneath her hat.

"I got purple streaks put in. I figured I might as well look more like you if we're going to do this."

"I wish you would have done your hair so I could see it."

"Well Matt wanted to let me sleep in and because he was pestering me while I was in the shower it took longer for me to get ready."

"Matt was in the shower with you," Jeff exclaimed.

"Not in the shower but in the bathroom."

"Why was that?"

"He was defending you actually. We were talking but I needed a shower so we just continued our conversation in there. It's nothing that either of you haven't seen before."

"I guess," Jeff said quietly. He couldn't stop himself from thinking back to the time when he had walked in on her getting changed when they were in high school or how comfortable she was with him that she could get changed in front of him like it was nothing.

He knew that he shouldn't be thinking of his best friend like that, partly because he had a girlfriend but mostly because Annie was his best friend. Jeff could never admit to himself that he could possibly have feelings for Annie because he spent his entire life trying to convince himself otherwise. He forced himself not to think of her in that way because they couldn't ruin their friendship. He was settling, just like she said.

"I don't want us to change," Annie admitted about an hour later. "We just need to. Matt asked me the other day what would I do if you guys got married and I told him that I would learn how to be alone. With you guys we have such a comfortable friendship but if you guys got married I couldn't have you stay over. I'm just going to start this early."

"What makes you think that you're going to be alone and Matt and I are going to be the ones married?"

"It just seems like that's the road we're going down. You managed to find someone but I have met everyone at work and in this town and I'm not going to settle. I would rather be alone and have no kids rather than settling for someone who isn't meant for me."

"Maybe we should all look at it that way," Jeff replied softly.

"Do you think that you're settling for Danielle," she questioned.

"In some way I feel like I am. Don't get me wrong I really like her and I guess that I could love her someday but there is just something missing with her."

"Jeff if there is something missing then you shouldn't be with her. I know that I have no right to tell you how to live your life but if you don't feel like she's the love of your life then why settle?"

"I don't like being alone I guess," Jeff admitted sheepishly.

"I don't either but sometimes it's better to be alone because you won't end up hurting somebody else. If you truly like Danielle then be with her but if you don't, you, me and Matt can all be lonely together."

"I'll think about Annie, thanks," he stated sincerely.

"Honestly Jeff there are a lot of things that we settle for in life and things that we put up with when there really is no point to it. We get one life to live and settling for anything less than what you deserve isn't right."

Jeff nodded his head in understanding as Annie pulled into the gas station. She hadn't been planning on driving to Virginia so she hadn't filled up her gas tank. Jeff got out and walked into the store while Annie put her card in and filled up her tank. She called Matt quickly.

"I'm going to kill you," she stated aggressively when he answered the phone.

"What, you aren't enjoying the ride," Matt laughed.

"You planned this didn't you?"

"You should have known this was coming. I'm just glad you didn't leave him there."

"I couldn't do that no matter how mad I am at him and how shitty this car ride is."

"Are you at least talking or just sitting in silence?"

"We're talking but I realized that Jeff and I can't be friends like we used to be. I'll fill you in when we get to the arena, if we get to the arena."

"Where are you?"

"Only about an hour away at a gas station. You're lucky we didn't kill each other."

"I know you wouldn't do that."

Annie hung up her phone and finished pumping her gas. As she finished Jeff walked out with 2 bags full of stuff. She got back in and he was holding a rose in his hand.

"Thank you," she stated.

"You're welcome and I'm sorry again," Jeff said as Annie took the rose from him and put it in front of her speedometer. "Here these are for you too."

Jeff handed her an energy drink and teriyaki beef jerky, pretty much her staples in high school.

"You remembered," she thanked. "It's really sweet."

"Living in the past I guess. We should go up there soon."

"Jeff it's November we'd freeze our asses off."

"It's still in the 60's at night, come on. We could get everyone together on Tuesday and spend the night up there. Come on Annie, please."

"Is it something Dani would be interested in?"

"She's not that outdoorsy. She would rather stay inside and sleep in a bed.

"Alright," Annie conceded. "If you can get it all planned then I'll be there."

"Perfect," Jeff answered excitedly. He started texting right away and Annie laughed at herself, remembering the multiple trips that they had taken up there as teenagers. It had been 5 almost 6 years since they had last gone and she was actually looking forward to going.


	8. Back to Normal

**Well that was Awkward**

Annie woke up after spending the last 2 nights at Matt's house to the realization that she was going to have to see Jeff. It was the one thing about this coming week that she was terrified of. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner for everyone, possibly messing it up completely, going out in front of sold-out crowds and quitting drinking didn't terrify her as much as having to see Jeff after everything.

"Come on Annie," Matt stated with a cup of coffee in his hand extending it to her. She sat up and grabbed it from him. "You need to take a shower and then we have the drive up to Richmond."

"That's the last thing that I want to do right now," she told him. Matt sat next to her on the bed and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Why don't you and I drive up there and Jeff can go with Shawn?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Annie told him. "Shawn is about ready to rip his head off and I'm afraid of what pops would do if he was in the car with Jeff for that long. You should go with him and then I'll ride up with Shawn, Becca and the kids."

"Are you sure," Matt asked her. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Trust me this will make me the most comfortable. I don't want to deal with Jeff but I also don't want him to feel like everybody was abandoning him."

"Well what he did wasn't right. I'm not saying that he can't have a relationship but the fact that he hid it from you is what I have an issue with."

"Me too," Annie agreed. "I wouldn't have had him stay with me so many times if I would have known that. I know that if I was dating somebody and I found out he was in some other girl's bed, friend or not, I wouldn't be happy. I just feel like it's my fault."

"Why would you think that," Matt asked. Annie got up from Matt's bed and walked into his bathroom turning the shower on.

"Because I feel like if Jeff and I didn't have this unspoken relationship then maybe he would have told me. You knew didn't you?"

Matt followed her into the bathroom after she had stepped inside the shower and closed the curtain. "Yeah I knew and I was trying to get him to tell you."

"Matt, everybody knew except for me. Why would he keep it from me? Did he really think I would get that upset by it? As far as he knows I don't have any sort of feelings for him so why would he wait?"

"I think that he thought if he waited to tell you then his relationship with her wasn't real. You are the missing piece of the puzzle and I understand that you are upset with him."

"I'm only upset that he didn't tell me, not that he has a girlfriend. We have both had relationships with other people and it's never been an issue for either one of us so why keep Danielle a secret. I feel like now that he views his current relationship a secret because this is going to be the girl that he ends up with."

"If it's up to me," Matt interjected. "You guys will be together in the end. It might take some time once you guys get over this hump. I feel like you guys belong together and so did our mom."

"Your mom," Annie questioned poking her head out of the curtain. She gently touched the necklace that Jeff had given her. "What about your mom?"

"That necklace was given to you by Jeff because our mom always thought that you guys would end up getting married someday."

"I thought my mom was making that up."

"Nope, not at all. Annie everything will work itself out."

"I just don't know how I'm going to face him," she whimpered letting the tears stream down her face. "How am I supposed go out there and pretend that we are dating when I don't even know if I can look him in the face?"

"I guess it's a good thing that we're doing a house show in Roanoke first. That way you only mess up in front of a few thousand instead of millions."

"That's one way of looking at it. I just don't know what to do Matt."

"It will work itself out. It's the holidays so you never know what could happen."

"I just wish that he hadn't told me when he did. It's just so messed up that he would tell me right after you guys held my intervention. I'm not drinking anymore and I lost my best friend in the world."

"Thanks, I feel appreciated," Matt responded with a mouth full of toothpaste. "What am I, chopped liver?"

"You know what I mean Matt," she defended. "You know that you and Jeff are my best friends but Jeff and I have the special relationship."

"Yeah but how many other friends do you have that would have you all naked in the shower and not do anything about it."

"Gross Matt," she exclaimed. "You're like my brother."

"Still this is a little strange."

"You're the one that followed me in here, forgive me for talking to you."

"Annie you know that I'm joking. Nothing could ever happen between us and we both know it."

"However it would be funny to see what Jeff's reaction would be."

"Yeah it would," Matt chuckled. "I don't think that he would ever talk to me again."

"Can you at least hand me a towel," Annie asked as she turned the shower off. She stuck her hand out and Matt handed her a towel. She wrapped it around herself and tried to wipe the tears that were on her face but there was nothing that she could do about her bloodshot eyes. When she stepped out Matt saw the expression on her face in the mirror and turned around to wrap her into a hug. She smiled to herself and took a deep breath in.

"As much as I love you Matt," she stated. "I would really like to be dressed before I'm this close to you," she joked.

"Nothing I haven't seen before," he joked back leaving her to finish getting ready.

Annie dried off and put on a pair of light blue faded baggy jeans and white tank top before putting a white knit hat on. When she walked into Matt's room he had a black fox racing jacket ready for her and their bags sitting on the bed with her title draped over them.

"Okay now we can hug," she stated walking over to him. "Thank you for everything Matt," she whispered into her shoulder.

"Anytime," he replied. "Glad I could help."

They released from each other and smiled before Matt grabbed their bags and she grabbed her title. Once they were in the car heading over to her house her heart started to pound out of her chest. She wanted to get everything over and done with seeing Jeff but she knew that he was going to be around forever.

They pulled up and they were the last ones there. Becca was putting Cheyenne into her car seat when they arrived. She then realized that there was no way that she was going to sit between 2 cars seats to travel all the way to Virginia so she looked at her Audi. She hadn't planned on driving but realized that maybe this was a good opportunity to be by herself where she couldn't go off and drink because she would be following the rest of them.

"Morning baby girl," Shawn said wrapping her into a hug.

"Morning," she replied. She tried to focus her attention on Shawn and not look around to see Jeff. Maybe she could go a few more hours without talking to him or seeing him. Shawn could tell that something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. I was going to drive with you guys but I don't want to sit in-between Cam and Cheyenne."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No go spend time with your family. I feel like I've already taken enough of your time away from your family. You guys go and have a fun road trip. I'll be fine on my own for a little while."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm good."

Annie grabbed her bag from Matt's car and went into her house to make sure that she had everything that she needed. She grabbed her car keys and checked to make sure that all of the lights were off. She also noticed that her house had never looked that clean. Apparently having Shawn and Becca there they felt the need to clean.

When she went back outside everybody was gone, except for the one person that she really didn't want to talk to leaning against her car.

"Where did they go?"

"They left already," Jeff answered. "Apparently they think that we need to talk."

"And they feel like torturing me with a 3 and a half hour car ride?"

"Is it really so bad that you can't deal with me," Jeff questioned sadly.

"Just get in the car," she ordered him after unlocking the doors. "It's not that I can't deal with you but after everything that's happened it's just hard for me to see you."

"I am so sorry Annie, you know that I would do anything in the world for you. I want you to be happy and I figured that if I had Danielle in my life then you wouldn't be happy."

"It's not that I'm mad at you because you have Danielle in your life it's because you waited so long to tell me. You've been with her for 3 months and you never even mentioned meeting her. We've told each other about past relationships and everything else our entire lives so I don't know why you chose to keep her a secret."

"I didn't want to hurt you," Jeff replied. "I knew that you have been feeling down and lonely these past few months and I didn't want our relationship to change. I still want to be the one that you can come to if you're feeling lonely or sick or whatever else."

"But Jeff, what I don't think you seem to understand is that by lying to me about this it has completely changed our relationship. If you would have just told me it wouldn't be this drastic. Now you've broken my trust and you know I don't handle people lying to me very well. You more than anybody should know that."

"I do understand that. I was going to tell you but something always got in my way. I was going to tell you when I first met her but you just lost your title and you were upset. Then I was going to tell you but then our storyline came up and I know that if I would have told you, you wouldn't have done it."

"No I wouldn't have," Annie yelled. "You're someone else's boyfriend and I don't know Danielle but I'm sure she has an issue relating to our history and the storyline."

"She does have an issue," Jeff sheepishly replied. "But I wasn't going to get suspended again and two, give up this amazing opportunity. We have both done everything in our careers except for this and you are probably the one person that I would actually do this with."

"But I don't think you understand," she tried to get through. "Okay it's a good storyline and I agree with you on the fact that I wouldn't do it with anybody but you but Jeff, you've been sleeping over, taking care of me, snuggling with me. I understand that's how you and I have always been from the time that we were kids but I feel like the other woman. Even though it's just a friendship between us I still feel like I've been cheating."

"That's ridiculous Annie and you know it. I'm not going to change my friendship with you because I'm in a relationship."

"It already had changed," she stated sadly. "It changed the moment that you lied to me."

"So what, you're only going to talk to me at work? Annie we have been best friends for almost 30 years and you're going to throw that all away because I lied to you once. It doesn't make sense to me and I don't know what I would do without you in my life as my best friend."

"I'm sorry about that but for the most part I need a break and I know that we are going through all of this at work but I don't want to be the other woman. I'm sure Danielle is a great girl and maybe we can all be friends but Jeff things have changed. I can't continue hanging out with you anymore, I just can't."

"Why not," he questioned angrily. "This doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything," Annie exclaimed. "If you come over one night to watch a movie, order take out, then we're going to end up snuggling and you'll end up staying over."

"It just sucks that this is what our relationship has come to. We've been snuggling and having sleepovers most of our lives and nothing has ever changed that."

"Maybe that why neither of us are married," Annie blurted out. "Maybe people are intimidated by our relationship and that's why no one has stuck around. I'm 33 years old and I haven't had a serious, long term relationship since high school."

"But do you think that's because of us? Or is it really because, for the last 10 years, you've only been home 2 days, if that, a week and its impossible or nearly impossible to start a relationship when this is your life?"

"I haven't met anyone who can compare or hold my interest."

"Compare to who?"

"I just get bored with them to easily," she escaped. "I can't get the same out of a relationship that I get with friendships from you and Matt. Even Shawn flies up here and stays to help me. Why is it that nobody sticks? Either something is wrong with me or our friendship is too intimidating. Don't get me wrong I love the fact that I have you guys but I'm getting older. I want to get married and I want to have kids. I feel like I've done everything there is to do in this company. Female wrestlers just don't stay around this long. The only time I haven't been around was after my DUI, my accident and my knee surgery."

"Are you getting burnt out," Jeff questioned.

"Not necessarily but it was hard losing my best friend and alcohol within a few days. I really need you right now but I can't at the same time. It's like the never ending conflict that's going on in my mind."

"I know that I hurt you and I'm extremely sorry for that, it was never my intention. Annie you have to know that you mean more to me than anybody else in the world and I want nothing but the best things. But if right now you need me to back off I will. I'm not saying that it won't be hard because it will. These last 2 days is the longest that we have ever gone without talking or texting. I can't do that."

"Jeff I'm not tell you that you can't talk to me, but I am telling you that we can't have the same relationship that we had, especially because of our storyline. I understand that it's just acting but it's still too much."

"Annie I am truly sorry for not telling you and I feel horrible for when I told you. You were already going through so much and I made it worse."

"I accept your apology but you also need to earn my trust back. It's hard for me to trust people once they've wronged me and the only reason I'm doing it for you is because we've been friends for almost 30 years."

"I truly appreciate that. You know that if you ever need me just call and I'll be there."

"I know that Jeff but I've been going to Matt, which is nice. I've been staying over there because Becca, Shawn and the kids have been staying at my house."

"I feel like such shit for having all of them come up here to stay with you."

"Shawn was already going to stay but Becca and Cam wanted to help me. They came more so for the quitting drinking then you."

"Have you been doing okay with that," he asked sincerely.

"It's only been a few day but I am doing okay. I know that there's no alcohol at my house but Matt has it in his. It's just a good thing that I haven't been alone since all of this happened."

"What have you been doing?"

"I went out to lunch with my mom, got my hair done, pops and I have been hanging out and so have Matt and I. It's really great to be surrounded by this many people. It makes me feel like I'm not so alone after all."

"What did you do with your hair," Jeff questioned looking at her wet hair underneath her hat.

"I got purple streaks put in. I figured I might as well look more like you if we're going to do this."

"I wish you would have done your hair so I could see it."

"Well Matt wanted to let me sleep in and because he was pestering me while I was in the shower it took longer for me to get ready."

"Matt was in the shower with you," Jeff exclaimed.

"Not in the shower but in the bathroom."

"Why was that?"

"He was defending you actually. We were talking but I needed a shower so we just continued our conversation in there. It's nothing that either of you haven't seen before."

"I guess," Jeff said quietly. He couldn't stop himself from thinking back to the time when he had walked in on her getting changed when they were in high school or how comfortable she was with him that she could get changed in front of him like it was nothing.

He knew that he shouldn't be thinking of his best friend like that, partly because he had a girlfriend but mostly because Annie was his best friend. Jeff could never admit to himself that he could possibly have feelings for Annie because he spent his entire life trying to convince himself otherwise. He forced himself not to think of her in that way because they couldn't ruin their friendship. He was settling, just like she said.

"I don't want us to change," Annie admitted about an hour later. "We just need to. Matt asked me the other day what would I do if you guys got married and I told him that I would learn how to be alone. With you guys we have such a comfortable friendship but if you guys got married I couldn't have you stay over. I'm just going to start this early."

"What makes you think that you're going to be alone and Matt and I are going to be the ones married?"

"It just seems like that's the road we're going down. You managed to find someone but I have met everyone at work and in this town and I'm not going to settle. I would rather be alone and have no kids rather than settling for someone who isn't meant for me."

"Maybe we should all look at it that way," Jeff replied softly.

"Do you think that you're settling for Danielle," she questioned.

"In some way I feel like I am. Don't get me wrong I really like her and I guess that I could love her someday but there is just something missing with her."

"Jeff if there is something missing then you shouldn't be with her. I know that I have no right to tell you how to live your life but if you don't feel like she's the love of your life then why settle?"

"I don't like being alone I guess," Jeff admitted sheepishly.

"I don't either but sometimes it's better to be alone because you won't end up hurting somebody else. If you truly like Danielle then be with her but if you don't you, me and Matt can all be lonely together."

"I'll think about Annie, thanks," he stated sincerely.

"Honestly Jeff there are a lot of things that we settle for in life and things that we put up with when there really is no point to it. We get one life to live and settling for anything less than what you deserve isn't right."

Jeff nodded his head in understanding as Annie pulled into the gas station. She hadn't been planning on driving to Virginia so she hadn't filled up her gas tank. Jeff got out and walked into the store while Annie put her card in and filled up her tank. She called Matt quickly.

"I'm going to kill you," she stated aggressively when he answered the phone.

"What, you aren't enjoying the ride," Matt laughed.

"You planned this didn't you?"

"You should have known this was coming. I'm just glad you didn't leave him there."

"I couldn't do that no matter how mad I am at him and how shitty this car ride is."

"Are you at least talking or just sitting in silence?"

"We're talking but I realized that Jeff and I can't be friends like we used to be. I'll fill you in when we get to the arena, if we get to the arena."

"Where are you?"

"Only about an hour away at a gas station. You're lucky we didn't kill each other."

"I know you wouldn't do that."

Annie hung up her phone and finished pumping her gas. As she finished Jeff walked out with 2 bags full of stuff. She got back in and he was holding a rose in his hand.

"Thank you," she stated.

"You're welcome and I'm sorry again," Jeff said as Annie took the rose from him and put it in front of her speedometer. "Here these are for you too."

Jeff handed her an energy drink and teriyaki beef jerky, pretty much her staples in high school.

"You remembered," she thanked. "It's really sweet."

"Living in the past I guess. We should go up there soon."

"Jeff it's November we'd freeze our asses off."

"It's still in the 60's at night, come on. We could get everyone together on Tuesday and spend the night up there. Come on Annie, please."

"Is it something Dani would be interested in?"

"She's not that outdoorsy. She would rather stay inside and sleep in a bed.

"Alright," Annie conceded. "If you can get it all planned then I'll be there."

"Perfect," Jeff answered excitedly. He started texting right away and Annie laughed at herself, remembering the multiple trips that they had taken up there as teenagers. It had been 5 almost 6 years since they had last gone and she was actually looking forward to going.


	9. They're Better Messy

**They're Better Messy**

"You did great out there," Annie told Crystal. "You're improving a lot."

"It happens when you have good people training you. Matt's been helping me with the aspects of being a heel and wrestling against you as certainly helped a lot too. I've never been a heel before now so I'm still trying to figure out how my personality should be when I'm in the ring."

"You would never be able to tell."

"Thanks Annie, that means a lot. I love the hair by the way and the new attire."

"Thanks but the attire isn't what I would have picked," she said looking down at herself. She had on a black bikini like top that was embellished with purple crystals with a plaid purple and black mini skirt that barely covered her ass. It was paired with black booty sorts, black fishnet tights, black knee pads and purple ring boots. "The skirt isn't really what I want, it's a little too short and I'm worried about it coming up."

"You'll get used to it," Crystal reassured her. "If you were just wearing shorts you'd look like the rest of us. At least this way you stick out."

"I guess so," Annie said defeated as they walked back to the locker rooms. "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?"

"I'm not doing anything until Thursday when I go to my parents' house."

"Do you want to come home with us? Tomorrow we are going up to the woods and dirt biking and bringing our quads up. It will be fun, I promise. Everybody else is drinking so you at least won't have to be sober for it. Come on, we need more girls there."

"As long as I have a tent and an air mattress I'll be good but I don't really have enough clothes."

"I've got plenty of clothes and plenty of space at my house. It's really not too far from the arena. You can actually catch a ride with Matt. It would look good for you two to leave together and Jeff and I will meet you at my house."

"Alright, let me shower and I'll meet up with Matt. I guess I'll see you there."

"Okay great job again."

"You too," Crystal said giving Annie a hug.

Annie watched Crystal walk towards the locker room before she went and found Shawn.

"Hey pops," she said walking into his locker room. "I just wanted to thank you for coming up here to help me out this week. You have no idea how much it means to me that your whole family came up to support me."

"You're welcome and you have no idea how much it meant to Cameron that you did that promo with him and then picked him up and kissed him at ringside."

"Well after people saw the promo I thought they would be confused if I didn't make an effort to see him at ringside. Plus you know how much I love the kid."

"That's why you're the godmother."

"That's what I told the commentators. I didn't mention that he was your son though."

"He is probably thrilled about it. Are you sticking around?"

"Probably not. We want to beat the traffic home so Jeff and I are leaving once we go talk to Vince. I just wanted to say goodbye and thank you."

"Anytime sweetheart, I'll see you on Saturday."

"You're more than welcome to stay with me this weekend if you want. I'm staying at home instead of a hotel anyways."

"That would be great, thanks. I'll give you a call when we get home to let you know we're safe."

"Okay love you pops."

"I love you too," he responded with a hug. "Have a good Thanksgiving."

"You too."

Annie kissed Shawn on the cheek before meeting up with Jeff to visit Vince. They both took a deep breath in before entering his office.

"Take a seat," Vince stated to both of them. "You guys did great tonight, a very good improvement from the weekend."

"Thanks," Annie replied.

"I don't know what you did but whatever it was it worked. Also you other promo was a little too sexual for this point in your relationship. It was good but that's the only reason it wasn't used."

"Sorry," Jeff apologized. "It was my idea."

"And it was a good one, don't get me wrong. We just don't want your relationship to go that quickly yet." Jeff and Annie both nodded. "You have a show on Saturday up in Greensboro and Annie you will be teaming with Natalya against Maryse and Crystal and Jeff you'll be teaming with Cena against Orton and Edge. Then Sunday is Survivor Series in Concord. Jeff you'll be defending the title against Orton and Annie you'll defend yours against Crystal. You'll get all of the information for Sunday when you get to the arena. Monday you'll be in Charlotte and Annie you'll have a singles match against Maryse for your title and Jeff you'll be going against Orton for the title. Matt and Crystal will both interfere but you guys will win anyways."

"Are we going down for the other's match," Annie asked.

"For Survivor Series you won't be but on Monday, Annie you'll be on your own for your match but once Crystal interferes with your match you'll realize that Matt is probably going to do the same for Jeff's match so you will go with him."

"Alright," she responded. "It's always nice to win at home."

"So we aren't doing anything with Matt and Crystal this weekend," Jeff asked.

"We're giving him another shot at the ECW Championship. Your rivalry will be in the background but it will still be there."

"Alright he deserves another shot anyways."

"Well go get changed and have a good Thanksgiving. I'll see you two on Sunday."

"You too Vince," Jeff said.

"Annie can I talk to just you for a minute before you guys leave?"

Annie looked at Jeff who gave her a reassuring look before kissing her forehead and closing the door behind him.

"What's going on Vince?"

"Just wanted to see how you're feeling? I know this is probably extremely hard."

"It's going okay. I haven't been itching for it so I guess that's a good thing. Honestly I'm just sick of people constantly reminding me about it, no offense. If I don't think about it then I'm fine for the most part."

"I'm sorry. I don't want to make it harder."

"It's okay don't worry about it."

"You and Jeff seem to be doing okay, even out of the ring."

"I told him that I was pretending," Annie admitted. "I'm not quite ready to forgive him yet but I can act that way. Our relationship could be worse than it is but we're dealing with it, our jobs depend on it."

"I just want to know how you're going to feel once we get you guys closer, when you have to be intimate on camera with him."

"It's defiantly going to be hard," Annie replied. "Not because of our friendship being broken but more so because of the feelings that are there."

"I was wondering when you would admit that," Vince said. "Part of the reason I did this was because I'm sick of seeing you two being tortured over this."

"Well you at least got me to figure it out. I don't think that Jeff ever will."

"I have a feeling that he might. Would you be okay with kissing him next week?"

"Can I let you know," Annie asked. "A week in a long time in mine and Jeff's world."

"Yeah just keep me in the loop. If you need anything give me a call."

"Not a problem and thank you."

"You're welcome, take care of yourself."

"I will."

Annie left Vince's office and realized she was had been there longer than she thought. She went to her locker room and Jeff was ready to go.

"I'm just going to get dressed and go say goodbye to Becca and Cam after the show and then we can leave."

"You want me to go with you," Jeff questioned surprised.

"Well I thought it would be fine since Matt's driving Crystal to my house." Jeff looked at her puzzled. "I invited her to go with us tomorrow and then she's flying home on Wednesday."

"Okay sounds good to me. I'll give you some time."

Jeff left Annie to get dressed in a pair of baggy jeans and a plain white v-neck and by the time she was finished the show was over. She went to the ramp, where she met Shawn and they both went into the arena again. They signed autographs as they walked down the ramp to get Cam and Becca.

"Hey big man," Annie said to Cam as she reached over the barricade to pick him up. "How'd it feel seeing yourself on the big screen?"

"It was awesome," he exasperated. "You were so good."

"Thank you for helping Aunty Annie this week, she really loved having you sleepover."

"You're welcome I love my aunty."

"Love you too big guy." She then turned her attention to Becca. "Thank you too. You have no idea how much I appreciated your help."

"Anytime Annie we are like family after all. I'm sad that you aren't coming for Thanksgiving."

"Well I have my own traditions but if I didn't then I'd be there in a heartbeat."

"Alright well you have a good holiday and if you need anything we're just a call and a flight away."

"Thanks again Becca," Annie said giving her a one armed hug. She turned to Shawn and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek before handing Cam to him. "Love you big man."

"Love you too Aunty Annie," he replied before giving her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled and walked away, giving a few more fans an autograph before heading to the back. She went back to her locker room to grab her bag and title before she and Jeff got in the car to drive home.

Matt and Crystal were already at her house when they got there. Marble greeted her at the door and she picked him up as he licked her face.

"Hey guys," Matt called from the kitchen. "We're making ice cream sundaes."

"And he's making a mess," Crystal giggled.

"It makes it better," Matt and Annie said as she and Jeff walked into the kitchen.

"What took so long," Matt asked pouring more chocolate syrup into the bowl of ice cream.

"We needed to talk to Vince and I wanted to say goodbye to Becca and Cam."

"Your house is beautiful," Crystal told Annie. "It's so country but so modern at the same time."

"That would be my mom's influence mixed with my taste. It turned out better than I could have hoped. Did Matt show you your room?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Hope you don't mind but he grabbed me some sweatpants."

"It's not a problem. You're more than welcome to anything in here."

"I put her in the guest room," Matt replied looking at Jeff. "Which means that Jeff can stay in his room since we are leaving first thing in the morning."

"Yeah," Annie hesitated. "He can stay in his room. I don't feel like driving him home anyways." Jeff smiled at Annie. "But that means you'll have to stay with me."

"That's what I was planning," Matt replied. "It's not like we haven't been doing that this past week anyways."

"So let me get this straight," Crystal interrupted. "You all live on your dad's property but usually stay in the same house because you don't feel like driving home?" The 3 of them nodded. "Alright so what's the point of having a house then? Why not just build one big one?"

"So we can get some kind of privacy," Jeff told her. "I like to be able to go home alone once in a while."

"Plus we all have different tastes," Matt added. "Jeff is very eccentric with his design while I'm more simplistic."

"Are you kidding," Annie joked taking a bite of her sundae. "You use color like it's going out of style. At least my house is more sophisticated."

"Your house looks like an old lady," Jeff said making fun of her. "It's like an 80 years old woman decorated it and her grandchildren added some things to make it look better."

"My mother helped you ass," Annie yelled. "I've never heard you complain about when you were staying here."

"Whoa, sorry I asked," Crystal intervened. "Are you guys always like this?"

"For the most part," Matt answered. "We get into bickering arguments sometimes but we turn out fine. We just like to rag on each other."

"We should finish these up and get some sleep," Annie stated. "We've got to wake up in the morning."

"What time," Jeff asked.

"Probably 11. We want to get there with enough time to enjoy ourselves."

"Isn't that a little early," he complained.

"This was your idea," Annie told him. "I don't want you complaining about us leaving early."

"Fine," he pouted while taking an aggressive bite of his ice cream.

The 4 of them finished their ice cream, cleaned up and all headed off to bed. Jeff watched as Matt and Annie walked into her room and closed the door behind him. It hurt him more than he was expecting it to. It was usually him that was with her and he was actually jealous of his brother. Matt had been there for Annie in the past week because he was such an idiot and decided to ruin their friendship.

Jeff walked into his room and closed the door. He turned the lights on and looked around. Annie had allowed him to hang up some of his artwork on the walls, as long as he didn't go too crazy with it. He walked around, touching every picture in the room. There were pictures of the 3 of them growing up, from the time they were 5 to the most recent one which was taken a few months ago. There were so many memories that included Annie that Jeff couldn't see his life without her in it. However, he messed it up by keeping a secret from her. He should have known that keeping a secret from her wouldn't end up well but there was a huge part of him that was afraid to hurt her. He had to make a decision to keep his girlfriend a secret from her and he had chosen wrong.

Jeff sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. He had messed up so badly that he felt like their relationship could never be the same. Since they had been forced together earlier in the day, it seemed like everything was getting back to normal but Annie was just acting. She had been pretending like everything was alright when it really wasn't. How did he possibly think that everything would be normal between them? He had a girlfriend but he was beginning to realize that he thought about Annie more than Danielle. But Annie was his best friend, there was a huge difference.

He loved Annie, probably more than he loved anyone else in the world, but she was his best friend. That was why he loved her so much. He hated the fact that she was just down the hall and that he couldn't be there with her. Jeff knew that in order to get Annie back he would need to earn her trust back and in order to be like they used to be he needed to be single.

Annie tossed and turned all night, which was not like her. Matt staying with her had helped her sleep well but she knew in the back of her mind that Jeff was staying down the hall from her. She was trying her best not to think about him, to try and stay mad but she couldn't. Having the day to pretend like nothing was wrong and everything was like it used to be made her think that she was over-reacting. Annie knew that Jeff couldn't stay over like he used to but why couldn't they still be friends?

Her head was telling her that he lied to her, that he kept Danielle a secret but her heart was telling her it wasn't a big deal. Even if Jeff couldn't figure out what he was feeling towards her, she knew exactly how she felt and she wished she didn't. Admitting to herself that she felt something towards Jeff that was only making it that much worse. If she had gone on pretending like she didn't have feelings for him then maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard for her to let Jeff go.

When they woke up in the morning Matt was sitting up in Annie's bed with a cup of coffee for both of them. "Rough night," he questioned handing her the coffee.

"I couldn't sleep," she said groggily.

"Thinking about Jeff," he questioned. "It was very big of you to allow him to stay here last night."

"Yeah and thank you," Annie replied. "I just couldn't turn my brain off."

"It's okay," Matt told her. "I was here for you but AJ and everybody else is here so you should probably get dressed. I've already got your stuff packed in your truck so you just have to get ready."

"Thank you Matt," Annie said while putting her coffee down and snuggling into his chest. "I really don't deserve you."

"Of course you do," he reassured her with a kiss on the forehead. "You have always been there for us and now it's my time to be here for you. Jeff really feels horrible about everything and you guys are taking steps in the right direction. Just know that we both love you and he will come to his senses eventually."

Annie hugged Matt tighter before unwillingly getting out of bed. Matt left her alone to get dressed and went downstairs. Jeff was finishing up breakfast when Matt got to the bottom of the stairs.

"You made her pancakes," Matt questioned. "You know those are her favorite."

"I thought that it would be a nice gesture," he stated taking a swig of his coffee. "I figured that she didn't sleep well last night and there is nothing wrong with a friend making another friend pancakes."

"So you're taking them up to her right," Matt asked.

"Of course."

Jeff grabbed a plate of food for Annie and walked up the stairs. He knocked on the door before going in.

"Just a second," Annie said from her bathroom.

"Just bringing you breakfast."

"Jeff," she questioned sticking her head out with a bra and spandex pants on.

"I figured you could use some pancakes."

"Oh my God," she exclaimed running out of the bathroom. "I can't believe you made me breakfast."

Jeff handed her the plate and she sat down at her desk, stuffing the food into her face without even realizing that she wasn't dressed yet. She finished her breakfast and finished getting dressed in an under armor long sleeve shirt, a pair of light blue booty shorts and a t-shirt before putting on her Ugg boots and grabbing a jacket.

Matt, Shane, Crystal, AJ, Shannon and Julie were waiting downstairs when Annie and Jeff came walking down. They already had everything in the trucks and ready to go so they left for the campsite right away. It had been so many years since they had all gone up there that it was great to get away. Everybody left their cell phones in the trucks as they unloaded all the bikes, quads and tents. Crystal, Annie and Julie all stood and watched as the boys tried to pitch the tents.

After having a fun filled day of riding with absolutely no injuries, which was surprising for them, they all sat around the fire joking around and laughing just like they always did. Annie sat in between Crystal and Matt as she stared across the fire at Jeff, who was playing his guitar. She smiled internally, trying to hide what she didn't want him to know.

As everybody continued to drink and have fun, Annie was beginning to struggle with not drinking. She didn't want to tell anybody about it because she didn't want to ruin anybody's night. It wanted to enjoy herself like everybody else was doing but she couldn't because she had to stay away from alcohol, even if she was just drinking it casually.

She walked away after a few hours with a flashlight, walking around the woods going nowhere in particular. She wondered while looking up at the stars and ended up by the side of the lake. Annie looked up at the stars and she pondered everything that was going on. She didn't know how long she was sitting there before she heard footsteps behind her.

"Hey sis," AJ said after putting a blanket around her shoulders and sitting next to her. "Why are you sitting out here all by yourself?"

"I just needed to get away. I really haven't had any time to myself since you guys held the intervention. It's kind of nice."

"I'm sorry to interrupt it then."

"No it's fine. It's just hard to be around it."

"I'm sorry for drinking in front of you, I wasn't even thinking."

"It's okay, I swear, I need to get used to it."

"No it's too soon for you to be around it. I remember when I was trying to quit it was almost impossible."

"No AJ its fine, I just wish I knew how to make this process easier. How did you deal with it?"

"It wasn't easy," AJ confessed. "You really just need to take things one step at a time and you'll be able to get through it. Someday you'll get to the point when you can control yourself when you drink but right now you don't know how to stop yourself. You've had a lot of issues when it came to your DUI and your car accident that you really need to stop drinking before you hurt somebody else. You know that what you've been doing is wrong and you've been trying to fix that and I am proud of you for that. I'm sorry that we had to ambush you like that but I think that was probably one of the only things that we could have done that would have stopped you."

"I know that drinking the way I was is not the way to go about things. I do want to get to the point where when I get home from a long week I can have a beer or two or a glass of wine and be able to stop but I don't have the self control to do that. I don't know why I can accomplish everything else that I've ever wanted but this I have such a huge issue with."

"We were both bound to have an issue with drinking because of dad and our grandfathers. Mom tried to raise us so that we wouldn't drink but it's just one of those things where we both needed to hit rock bottom for something to happen. I completely changed after your car accident and because I didn't want mom to have to go through all of that again with me. I was with her when we got the call from the police and the look on her face and they she reacted was just something that I could never do to her. I thought that you would have figured it out then too but for some reason I think it made you worse."

"I think that drinking was the one thing that I had in the world that I could turn to no matter what. I always meant to only have one or two drinks but I could never stop. I'm beginning to understand what my drinking did to everyone around me. Matt and Jeff have taken care of me way too many times to count when I have drank too much and I don't want to be like dad. My entire life the only thing besides wrestling that I have ever wanted was t not be like him. I saw what his drinking did to mom and to us and I never intentionally wanted to put her through that with me and I sure as hell never want my kids seeing me like that. Granite I don't know if I will ever have kids but I don't want to be somebody that they resent because I was too worried about drinking and not worried enough about them. I don't want them hating me like I hate my dad."

"Annie you know that you don't hate dad," AJ told her. "You know that you love him and I know that you forgive him for all of the times that he missed your games or your matches because you are the bigger person. Alcoholism is a disease and we have all suffered through it. We both know how hard it is to stop and I know that you can forgive dad, even if you're not ready to admit that to yourself yet. It will take time but I have forgiven him and I know that you will too."

"I don't know AJ, I love dad and I know that he has been trying to be better but I don't know if I can trust him right now. I need to surround myself with the people that will actually care about me right now and aren't going to make me drink if I don't want to. I was just in a situation that was bothering me and instead of making myself sit there and suffer through it I just walked away. I don't want to drink anymore but I feel like there is a part of me that has to, like it's the normal thing to do."

"One day sis you'll be able to drink socially like we are doing but it's going to take some time to be able to control yourself to only have one or two drinks. I know that things with Jeff aren't helping you right now."

"I just feel like this is the worst possible time for everything to happen. I can't try to quit drinking and get over whatever feelings that I have for him at the same time. It's times like that when I really think about drink, when I think about burying my feelings for him so that he can be happy."

"Annie we all know that you and Jeff belong together and it's a step in the right direction that at least one of you is admitting your feelings. I love you sis and I could beat Jeff into the ground for everything that he is putting you through but I know it would hurt you more if I tried to hurt him. Just give him a little bit more time to figure things out and I swear it will get better. Everything will work itself out in the end, I promise."

"I don't know if it's going to AJ, I really don't."

"Well sitting out here by yourself isn't really helping anything so why don't you come back with me and we'll make some smores," he laughed. As kids anytime they went camping or had a fire they would make smores and Annie couldn't help but smile. AJ helped her off the ground and the two of them made their way back to the campsite.

As Annie walked up the on the site she stopped to look at her group of friends. They had always been so close and she knew that she needed them more than ever now, even Jeff. Jeff had always been her best friend and she needed him. She needed him to look after her, to be there when she needed help and she needed him to need her. Jeff was always going to be the one person in her life that she cared about more than anybody even if they didn't end up together. They had a special bond with each other that no other person could match up to. Even when they were fighting they still had to need to be near each other although neither of them could stand the site of the other. Annie had to forgive Jeff for everything because it wasn't like she would have made a different decision if she had been in his position.

Annie sat back down next to Matt and he put his arm around her. He knew that Annie was trying the best that she could not to drink and he knew how hard it probably was for her. He wanted to go and talk to her but AJ beat him to it. AJ sat down next to Crystal to continue the conversation that they had started when Annie left. It wasn't like them to bring home a co-worker and bring them into their lives but Crystal seemed to fit in with them perfectly. Annie smiled when she looked over at AJ and Crystal. AJ was shy when it came to talking to new people and she hoped that he and Crystal would continue talking even after their trip ended.


	10. Crazy Girl and Broken Promises

**Crazy Girls and Broken Promises**

"I don't want you to go," Danielle argued when Jeff's alarm went off. "I never get to see you and this is our first holiday together. Soon you'll be gone for 2 weeks because you are going overseas with her and I don't want you there this morning."

"What don't you get that this is our tradition," Jeff yelled at her. "We've been doing this since we moved out of parents' houses. It's our way of independence and I don't want her doing this by herself because of everything that she is going through."

"You know what I didn't complain when you guys went on the camping trip because it was something that you guys always used to do. I sat home and let you guys go."

"Don't kid yourself, the only reason that you didn't go was because you hate the outdoors. I don't want you thinking that you gave me permission to go. I am going and helping Annie today because I promised her."

"You promise her a lot," Danielle said hurt. "You promise that you will stay there, that you'll always be there for her, that you'll fall in love with her onscreen in order to keep your jobs and that you will be there for Thanksgiving and the other holidays. Why can't you promise those things to me? I'm the one that's your girlfriend."

"You knew when you got into this relationship that Annie was a big part of my life and I thought that you understood that. We have been friends for almost 30 years and I'm not going to throw that away because you and I have been in a relationship for like 4 months."

"I'm not telling you that you can't go over there for dinner but do you really have to be with her all day? I'm not trying to force you to give up all of your traditions but I just want you to at least consider my feelings in all of this. I know that you are always worried about her feelings when it comes to your decisions but what about me. Do you even really care about how I feel?"

"Of course I care," Jeff stated calmly.

"Then go over there for dinner and spend the day with me. I don't get to see you very much and I am going to miss you."

"You could always come to the shows this week."

"I know but I want you to be focused and having me there would be a distraction."

Danielle had tried everything in her power to get Jeff to stay with her for the day. She was sick of the control that Annie had over Jeff and the saddest part was that he didn't even notice that she was doing it. Danielle would have loved to go and see Jeff at work but she didn't to have to deal with Annie. She couldn't just sit there and watch them act like a couple while she was sitting on the sidelines having to watch all of it. She couldn't even watch it on TV so she always just got filled in on Jeff's matches so she could pretend like she watched it.

Danielle understood that Annie was his best friend but there was a very thin line between best friends and something more and Jeff and Annie were always teetering on that line. She had never met Annie but from the way that Jeff talked about her, she knew that there was something there. She knew that Jeff didn't know that anything was going on between him and Annie and she was banking on that. Jeff was too stubborn to admit anything to himself when it came to his feelings for Annie and most of the time Danielle was okay with being second best because she at least had Jeff. It was better than not having him at all.

"Is everything okay," Matt answered Jeff's phone call.

"I need you to go to Annie's house like now."

"Why? Don't tell me that you're bailing on her?"

"I have to," Jeff said sadly. "Danielle wants me to spend the day with her."

"Jeff," Matt said disappointed. "You do realize that this is probably the one thing that could mend you friendship fully with Annie."

"I know it is but I can't risk losing Danielle over this."

"So you're choosing Danielle over Annie. You are messing this all up Jeff. She is finally ready to forgive you and I don't see why you can't get it through your head that you two are meant to be together. I know that you don't want to hurt Danielle because you can't bear to be alone but in case you haven't noticed Annie and I are both single and we aren't lonely. I don't know where all of your fear comes from. You need to stop lying to yourself."

"Matt I can't stand another lecture from you right now. I didn't go home until Wednesday because I slept at Annie's house on Monday and then we went camping Tuesday and today is my last day at home and I do need to spend some time with her before this schedule starts up. We have house shows Saturday through Tuesday, 2 days home and then we're gone for 2 weeks. I can't just abandon her."

"You can't abandon Annie either."

"She'll have you and I'll be there for dinner. I'm not going to completely miss dinner with my family."

"Jeff at this point I'm not sure that anybody even wants you there."

Matt aggressively hung up his phone and moaned on his bed. It was 830 and he had barely gotten any sleep. He grunted as he got up and headed to the shower before he would take the drive over to Annie's house to break the bad news to her.

Annie woke up early on Thanksgiving morning to an empty house, which was a nice change of pace. She had surprisingly slept well without somebody with her which was unlike her. She stepped out of bed and into her slippers before walking down the stair and into her living room to blare her music. She danced around the kitchen as she prepped the turkey for the day. It was only 8 o'clock by the time the turkey was stuffed and in the over so she decided to make herself breakfast since she was already in the kitchen.

Normally Jeff got to her house right after the turkey was in the oven because he hated to watch her clean and stuff it. It grossed him out for some reason even though he could watch every horror movie ever made with all the gore in the world and not get grossed out. She laughed at the memory of him not even wanting to touch the turkey the first Thanksgiving that they had. He tried to pull everything out of the turkey and gagged so badly that she had to take over. Ever since then he made a point to show up around 9 or 10 when the turkey was safely in the oven.

When she finished her breakfast and cleaned up after it she realized that it was 930. She had thought about calling Jeff but he was probably on his way. He never answered his phone anyways so she just went in her living room and turned on the TV. She would start prepping everything else once Jeff actually showed up.

Around 10 she heard tires coming up the driveway. Like a little girl waiting for her mom to get home after work, she ran to the window to look out but she felt a huge piece of her heart break when it was Matt's car coming up the driveway and not Jeff's. She collapsed on the floor in front of her window and broke down crying. When Matt came in the house he ran over to her side and held her as she tried to keep her breathing steady. The last thing that she needed on Thanksgiving was to have a nervous breakdown.

"Annie I'm so sorry that my brother is such an asshole. I can't believe that he's not here right now. He has no right to ditch you today."

"It's was the one thing he could have done," Annie sobbed through her tears. "I don't know if I can ever forgive him."

"Jeff is an asshole. Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

Matt tried to let Annie get up on her own but she couldn't. He picked her up bridal style and she cradled her head into his neck and wrapped her arms around him. She didn't want to let go of him as he carried her up the stairs and into her bathroom.

"Can you get in the shower for me," he asked quietly. She shook her head no without letting go of him. "Come on Annie, please. I promise that you'll feel better." She didn't move an inch. "Okay I guess I have to do this."

Matt put her down and gently put his hands on her hips before slowing raising her shirt up. He was hoping that she would react, make him stop and do it on her own but she just stood still, not letting go of his neck. He continued to raise her shirt until it got to her arms. She let go of him with one arm to get her shirt off and then the other before quickly putting them back where they were. He started the bathtub and led her into it. She sat down and released Matt but really wouldn't look up at him.

Annie felt ashamed, like she wasn't good enough. Jeff had chosen his girlfriend over her, which was the way it was supposed to be, but she still felt hurt. Why did he always mess things up just when she was ready to forgive him? He was never really the best at reading Annie when it came to her feelings but how could he not know how much this would hurt.

"Sorry," she said quietly to Matt, who was washing her back with a washcloth.

"It's okay, what are friends for," he said sympathetically. "I'm always here for you Annie, you know that."

"I know and from now on, no matter what Jeff does I'm just not going to care. Every time I feel like forgiving him he messes up so I'm just not going to expect anything from him anymore. If he wants something from me he's going to have to earn it."

"Good for you," he said. "Do you think you can finish yourself, this is just a little too weird?"

"Yeah sorry."

"No problem."

"Can you go downstairs and start peeling the potatoes?"

"I don't know how."

"You don't know how to peel potatoes," Annie asked astonished.

"No I'm not the cook in the family, you should know that."

"I'll be down in a minute then."

Annie finished her bath as quickly as she could before getting out and putting on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. When she got downstairs Matt was sitting at her counter looking at everything that had to be done.

"I'm going to show you how to peel the potatoes. It takes a long time and I don't have enough time now to do that and everything else."

"I guess I can learn," Matt responded.

Annie showed him how to peel potatoes, telling him to make sure that he got all of skins off. There was nothing that bothered her more than having skins in her mashed potatoes. She made another batch of stuffing and cranberry sauce on the stovetop while checking on her turkey at the same time to make sure that it was cooking properly and basting it.

It seemed like the cooking time went by quickly with Matt trying to joke around and have fun with Annie. Having Matt there wasn't the same as Jeff but she knew that she could get over it. She had to be understanding of the fact that Jeff was in a relationship but she didn't want it to destroy their friendship and their traditions like it was. They needed to talk about everything and she didn't want to. Annie just wanted to avoid it at all costs and not have to deal with it.

"I'm going to get going," Jeff told Danielle from his bedroom. "Everybody should be showing up soon."

"You can't stay longer," she questioned.

"I've already missed out on enough don't you think?"

"Fine I guess I'll see you tonight."

"I don't want you to think that I don't want to spend time with you," Jeff reassured her. "It's just the history that Annie and I have is hard to get rid of. We have been through everything together and we always will. We are best friends for a reason."

"Do you talk to her about me as much as you talk to me about her?"

Jeff stayed silent for a minute, not really knowing how to answer the question. Did he really mention Annie that much to Danielle? "You are usually the one that brings her up," he came up with.

"Even so you don't need to defend her all of the time. I want to be in a relationship with you, not a relationship with you and Annie."

"I understand that Dani, I do, but there is always going to be an Annie and me and if you can't get over that then we can't be in a relationship. I'm not going to throw my friendship down the drain because you want me to. I'm not wired like that and you should know that. Most of the friends that I have I've known for almost 20 years. I don't people easily and for some reason I trust you and I don't want to have a reason not to trust you. Now I've done what you asked, I stayed away from her this morning but it's almost 4 and I have to get over there before I ruin things even further."

"Okay," Danielle said quietly. Jeff gave her a quick kiss before walking out the door. He got in his car and drove angrily down the road to Annie's house. It seemed like Danielle was just trying to push his buttons today. When he got to Annie's house he noticed that Matt was the only one there. Apparently he had shown up early.

As he approached the door his heart started to beat loudly. How could he face her after not showing up in the morning? He had been hoping that he wouldn't be the first one there so that they could just sit in an awkward silence and not really have to talk about anything because he knew that he was in for an ass whooping.

"Hey guys," he said as he walked into the kitchen. He laughed when he noticed Matt trying to mash the potatoes. "You got potato duty," he joked.

"I wouldn't have gotten potato duty if someone had actually shown up," Matt snapped at him.

"Matt do you think you can handle this for a few minutes," Annie asked him. Matt nodded and Annie made eye contact with Jeff. No such luck on the awkward silence for the evening. Annie walked outside after grabbed her coat and walked far away from the house, with Jeff following, to the lake on the property. She sat down on the dock and Jeff sat down beside her.

"I'm so sorry," he said trying to break the tension. "I wanted nothing more than to come here this morning."

"Then why didn't you?"

"I fought with her Annie, I really did. I was trying my best to make it here."

"I don't know why you feel the need to hurt me in order to make her feel better. You coming here this morning would have solved almost everything between the two of us but you messed it up by listening to your girlfriend instead of keeping your promise to me."

"I'm so sorry Annie," he repeated. "I really wanted to be here but I couldn't just leave her."

"Why not," she yelled. "Because you're afraid of being alone. It's not so bad being alone Jeff and if that's your only reason for staying with her then it's not really fair to her or to you. You should love the person that you're with, be able to see your future with them in it. Jeff you can't just stay with her because you are lonely. You deserve to love somebody as much as they love you and I don't want to see either one of you get hurt."

"You don't even know her."

"No I don't know her but nobody deserves to get their heart broken and if she finds out that you are just staying with her until somebody else better comes along then it will probably destroy her. Would you want a guy to stay with me just because he doesn't want to be alone? Would you want him to break my heart when somebody better comes along?"

"No of course I wouldn't and I would probably kill a guy if he ever did that to you, I almost did in the past." Annie shuttered at the memory. "You have to understand Annie it's not that I don't like Daniele because I do. She is a lot of fun to hang around with once you get past the over bearing quality of her and you should know more than anybody that I don't look into the future. If I'm happy now then I don't care what happens in the next year or so."

"We just need to figure this out," Annie said. "We need to figure out our relationship and how everything is going to work between us. I don't want us to keep getting disappointed because you miss something that we have planned. I don't think I can handle getting upset anymore by you. I don't want to end out friendship, that is the last thing that I want to do, but I want us to be able to be friends without making Danielle upset."

"I want to be able to figure that out too. We've been able to do it in the past so I don't understand why it's so hard this time."

"I think it may be harder this time because we care more. We are more considerate then we used to be and most of the time when one of us is in a relationship the other is too. I don't know if I'm being too needy or what."

"You're not being needy," Jeff reassured her. "All you wanted was honesty and our traditions, that's not being needy. You want to keep things the way that they are for the most part and you need to be able to trust me and I think I ruined that."

"You haven't ruined it but showing up this morning would have helped a lot. A phone call would have been nice too not just having your brother show up."

"I understand and I promise that we will work on our communication and find a way to make this work. I want my friendship with you to last."

"I do too."

"So we're still friends," Jeff questioned looking at her.

Annie looked at Jeff and nodded with a smile. "We need work but we're still friends."Jeff wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his body. She wanted to stay there and bask in the sunlight in his arms forever. "I think we should get back before Matt ruins dinner." Jeff laughed.

"Now I know why I always have you help me and not him. The boy didn't even know how to peel potatoes."

"Seriously," Jeff questioned helping her off the ground.

"Seriously," Annie responded with a chuckle. Jeff smiled as he put his arm around Annie and they walked back to her house. Thankfully Matt hadn't burnt it down while they were gone and he managed not to mess anything up with dinner.

AJ, Liz, Gil and Ted arrived almost at the same time a little less than an hour later. Nobody knew what had happened earlier, nobody knew that Jeff didn't show up and that he and Annie were working on their friendship. Dinner passed like every other year, with everybody joking and having fun, like nothing in their lives had changed. It was nice to be able to spend the holiday with their family members and it was great that not only were Matt and Jeff friends with Annie but their parents got along really well too. Elizabeth had been best friends with Ruby and Ted and Gil were forced to be friends because of it. However, after all of these years, Ted and Gil managed to become the best of friends even without their wives around.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay tonight," Matt questioned. "I know you've had a long day."

"No I should be fine. I'm probably just going to pass out as soon as you leave anyways"

"Are you sure?"

"Matt I'm fine, I promise. Stop worrying about me and I will call you if I need you."

"Okay," he said wearily. "Good night Annie."

"Night Matt," she responded with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I promise that I'll be okay."

Matt drove off and Annie was finally alone again. She looked around her house and she was scared by the silence. Marble was sleeping quietly on the couch in the living room and she walked around, cleaning up the plates from dessert. Once she was done with the dishes she sat with Marble on the couch. Annie was about to turn on the TV but she saw headlights streaming through the window. She scrunched her eyebrows confused before getting up off the couch and heading to her door.

When she opened her door a woman dressed in a blue sweatshirt and jeans with shoulder length brown hair was standing and staring at her.

"Can I help you," Annie asked.

"I don't believe we've met," she said nicely extending her hand. "I'm Danielle." Annie stood in shock for a moment. A million thoughts and questions seemed to race through her mind. Why was she here? How did Danielle know where she lived? Why did she have to come today when everything seemed to be going okay? She had gotten her way earlier in the day so why couldn't Annie have a moment of peace and quiet? "I think we should talk," Danielle continued. Apparently she was impatient.

"Umm, okay," Annie said inviting her into the house. Annie led her to the living room, where Danielle's eyesight immediately went to the large framed poster about Annie's fireplace. The office had sent her the cover of next month's magazine. It was the picture of her and Jeff from their photo-shoot where Jeff was coming up from behind her and lifting her into the air as they both had profound smiles on their faces. They had also sent a photo album with all of the other pictures from the photo-shoot so she and Jeff could pick the ones that they liked. She didn't have the heart to open it yet, considering the shot that they had put on the front of it.

"That is some picture," Danielle pointed out.

"Yeah it came in yesterday. I haven't had time to put it down in the basement with the rest of them yet."

"It's a good picture," she said nicely. "You guys look happy."

"Thanks," Annie responded. "It was a good day. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Honestly I felt like we should meet. I hear about you constantly and I haven't really met many of Jeff's friends yet."

"That's probably because he was keeping you a secret," Annie replied bitterly. "It takes an awful lot of effort to find my house and to actually get here so I know that you didn't just come here to meet me. The least that you could is to tell me the truth."

"I'm honestly intimidated by you," Danielle confessed. "I feel like I have a lot to live up to."

"Jeff and I have never done anything, I swear. We've never tried dating, we've never even kissed, not even on a dare." Danielle focused her attention to the coffee table where the photo album was. They had put the picture of Annie and Jeff as they were about to kiss on the cover. "We honestly didn't kiss there. The photographer yelled cut. You can look through all of them if you don't believe me."

"But it's going to happen soon?"

"Yes but you need to realize that it's only our job. Neither Jeff nor I could have afforded to get suspended. If I was suspended then I would be out of a job and the last thing that Jeff needed was to be suspended again. If I would've known that you guys were dating I wouldn't have agreed to this. You need to understand that I'm not going to steal him away from you. We are friends, that's it."

"I have a hard time believing that," Danielle snapped. "How could you not have known that we were in a relationship?"

"Jeff kept it a secret from me," Annie defended. "I didn't find out until Wednesday of last week. And honestly it caught me off guard."

"Why?"

"Because every time he's dated somebody he's told me about it when it first happens and he waited a long time to tell me. It's not like him."

"Annie I'm trying to be considerate of your feelings here but I don't want Jeff to be over here so much."

"You got your way today," Annie said sadly. "You ruined one of our only traditions, one that we've had for over 10 years and you wouldn't even let him call me. We didn't talk pretty much all of last week because of you. I'm not being selfish but I'm going through a lot of shit right now and it would be nice if Jeff was around."

"Big friggin' deal, you're quitting drinking," Danielle replied sarcastically. "You have plenty of other friends."

"I've helped Jeff with his drug problems in the past and he is just returning the favor. You do know that he's had a bag drug problem right? He's not keeping secrets from you too is he?"

"He's mentioned it," she said quietly. "But honestly, you don't need my boyfriend here helping you out all the time."

"And you need to understand that we can't go a day without talking. In case you don't know what a friend is supposed to be, they are there for each other, especially when one of them is going through something like this."

"We'll see how long that lasts," Danielle stated with an attitude standing up. "If he wants to stay with me you guys will be changing."

"Trust me honey, you don't want to tell him to choose because it won't turn out well for you. It's happened before and Jeff picked me, he will pick me every time."

Danielle didn't say anything else as she stormed out of her house. Annie stood in the window as she watched Danielle drive away. She grabbed her phone and scrolled down to Jeff's number.

"Annie," he answered. "Is everything okay?"

"You need to keep your girlfriend in line."

"Wait, Danielle showed up at your house," he questioned surprised. "What did she say?"

"The norm. The 'I don't believe you guys have never done anything'; the 'I don't want Jeff over here as much' and oh, my favorite; she told me that my quitting drinking wasn't a big deal."

"She said what," he yelled. "I can't believe that she would say that to you. How did she even find out where you lived?"

"I thought you told her," Annie said.

"No I don't tell anybody where you live."

"Well that's just creepy then," Annie chuckled. "Guess I have to lock my door every night. Oh yeah she also pulled the 'if he wants to stay with me, you guys won't be friends.'"

"I'll talk to her Annie, I'm so sorry. Are you doing okay? Do you want me to come over?"

"No, I'll just call Matt. You just have fun dealing with her."

"Are you sure you don't want me there? I honestly don't want to be here if and when she decides to stay over."

"And what are you going to tell her when she asks where you were?"

"The truth."

"You can stay here if you want to, we need to look at those pictures anyways. We need them ready for Saturday."

"That sounds like a plan," Jeff told her. "Jack is over at dad's house tonight so I'll be there shortly."

"Okay, see you in a bit," she said with a smile.

Annie laughed to herself. Danielle hadn't even had a chance to talk to Jeff yet and he had already chosen her. Danielle had not right to come to her house and say the things that she said. Annie was really wishing that she could've had a drink but she knew that shouldn't, that she couldn't.

Annie waited impatiently for Jeff to get to her house. Not 5 minutes later she heard his dirt bike coming towards her house. She went out to greet him as he turned it off. He had his backpack on his shoulders. It reminded her of when they were teenagers and neither of them had a license so they would just ride their bikes over to the other's house when they needed to escape from their parents. Jeff wrapped her in a hug and kissed the top of her head when she greeted him outside.

"I'm so sorry Annie," he soothed. "I'm so angry with her for saying those things to you, you have no idea."

"You're probably not as angry as I am right now. I could really use a drink, it's been a long day."

"Come on, let's go inside," he said putting his arm around her shoulder leading her back into the house. "I'll make you some tea."

Once Jeff had finished making them tea, they went and sat in the living room.

"I meant to say earlier that I love the cover," Jeff told her. "Mine's hanging in my gallery. It has to be my favorite cover."

"There's no way that's your favorite," Annie doubted him. "You've had other covers where you've looked better."

"Maybe so but this one means the most to me. You and I have never been on the cover together. It may have taken 10 years but we finally have one together."

"Yeah now if only Matt was in it too."

"Speaking of Matt, did you tell him about Danielle?"

"No I called you first. I know that if I told him that she came here that he would be over here and sitting with us."

"You don't want him here?"

"It's not that I don't want him here and it's not that I don't love him but you and I don't get to hang out just you and I anymore and I saw this as a good opportunity."

"Sounds good to me," he said before grabbing the photo album and leaning back on the couch. Annie leaned back also as he opened up the album. It took them around an hour or so to pick the pictures just because they kept arguing. Almost every time that there was a picture that Annie liked Jeff didn't like it and vice versa. It was just like old times again."


	11. Surviving

**There's a First Time for Everything**

Annie woke up in the morning as Jeff snored lightly in her ear. She smiled to herself and sat up slow. Her neck was still a little sore as she moved her head from side to side, trying to judge exactly how much pain she was in. Apparently it did hurt and she should have gone to the trainer's office, like Jeff had told her to. For once he was right. She grabbed her phone off the bedside table and she had missed a call from her mom so she got up and went into the bathroom.

"You called," Annie said when her mom answered the phone.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay after last night," she stated concerned. "I couldn't tell if you were acting or not."

"I'm fine, just a little sore is all."

"You could have told me in advance, maybe warned me, so I didn't have a heart attack when he hit you with that move."

"It was a last minute change mom, I'm sorry. You don't need to worry about me so much."

"It's my job to worry about you guys, the four of you, no matter how old you get."

"I promise that I'm okay but thanks for the concern."

"No problem but I also called to tell you that I can't watch Marble today. I got called in to go work at another hospital today and I don't want to leave him alone all day."

"Oh," Annie responded.

"And I talked to Gil but he can't take him either so you'll probably just need to bring him with you. I'm sure that they won't have a problem with that."

"I guess that could take him," Annie said. "Jeff apparently didn't think this through."

"Think what through," he asked walking into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"Getting me a dog. Mom can't watch him today."

"Did he sleep-over," Liz asked through the phone.

"Yes," Annie answered. She swore she heard her mom squeal quietly.

"So…"

"So nothing. I guess I'll pick up Marble once I get dressed."

"I already dropped him off. I was going to use my key but what a surprise your door was unlocked. I don't know why you don't lock your door."

"In a town that has a crime rate of 0.1% I don't see the point and that percentage is people speeding so I don't know why somebody would break in here."

"Because you're famous."

"Not really that famous mom and I'm never alone anyways. I lock it when I'm not home at least."

"Just think about keeping it locked okay? I will make everyone a key if that's what it takes."

"Almost everyone had a key already mom," Annie said rolling her eyes. "I've got to get a workout in so let me call you later."

"Okay baby, I love you."

"Love you too mom."

Annie hung up her phone and slammed it on the counter. Jeff looked at her confused. "Don't give me that look."

"What look," he questioned.

"That one. I know you're just going to tell me that she only wants to protect me, you're lucky to have her, blah, blah, blah."

"Well are you Miss Cranky Pants this morning," Jeff chuckled.

"Shut up," she said smacking his arm. "Cranky Pants, really," she joked.

"Yep."

"Thanks for all of your help last night."

"With what?"

"Rubbing my neck, staying here to me. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"No biggy, I told you that I would. It's what friends are for. So what's that workout that you were talking about?"

"Just going for a run, figured that I would stop at your dad's house and have a cup of coffee with him."

"Do you want some company?"

"If you really want to run two miles or more and I don't want to listen to you bitch and complain."

"I'm not much of a runner anyways," he conceded.

"Exactly what I thought."

Annie walked back into her room and to her closet to get dressed in a pair of spandex running pants and a matching long sleeve shirt, a pair of shorts and her sneakers before running out the door. She ran down the path towards Gil's house. Running through the woods always seemed to calm her down, to give her a little bit of serenity. It was quiet with no sound of traffic or people, just the animals and the sound of her feet hitting the ground.

"How was your run," Shawn asked her when she got home. "You were gone longer than I thought you would be."

"I got caught up talking to Gil and then I took the longer route home. I wanted a little bit more time to breath and calm myself."

"Well go and get ready, we need to leave soon."

"Why, what time is it?"

"Past 1 and we need to leave by 2 in order to get to Charlotte on time."

"I don't get why we always need to be there five hours before the show even starts."

"It's called doing your job and part of that entails you putting in face time with the fans."

"Why do you always seem to make so much sense?"

"It's a fatherly instinct, now go and get ready."

Once they got to the arena, Jeff and Matt seemed to be acting weird, weirder than usual.

"Okay what's going on," Annie questioned them. "You two have been pretty much silent since we got here."

"Just don't feel like talking," Jeff responded.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you two. You can't stop talking the entire way here, about pointless crap, and now nothing."

"Then go find someone else to talk to," Matt told her. "There are plenty of people here that you can talk to."

"Fine," she said a little upset before leaving their locker room. She stood in front of the closed door for a minute before deciding to get her hair done.

"Come on you two," Liz spoke under her breath as she waited impatiently for AJ and Ted at a gas station. They were about an hour away from the arena and she had gotten a text from Jeff saying that they were at the arena already. "What took you guys so long," she asked when they got back into the car.

"We wanted snacks," AJ stated digging through one of the bags in the backseat. "You said we didn't have time to stop and eat even though it's still four and a half hours until the show starts."

"Jeff and Annie have an autograph signing at 6 and I wanted to catch her before that."

"I want to see her too," Ted agreed. "But if we don't catch her then we don't catch her, no big deal. She'll see us before the show starts either way."

Liz continued to drive to the arena, annoyed by her ex-husband and her son. She wanted to be there as early as she possibly could but nobody was as punctual as she was. The anticipation grew as they reached the arena. The parking garages and streets were already littered with fans as Liz drove her Envoy to the parking garage in the back of the arena. She gave her name and license to the security guard at the gate and he opened it up for her.

Once she parked the car she called Jeff to come out and meet them. He walked out the back door and gave Liz a hug.

"So where is she," Liz asked as AJ followed behind them and Ted grabbed a bouquet of flowers out of the backseat before also following them.

"No idea," he stated opening the door for them. "She got mad at us and walked off."

"What did you do now," she accused.

"I didn't do anything, I was just being quiet. It's so hard to keep a secret from her so I figured it would be better to just keep to myself."

Jeff led Ted, AJ and Liz to the backstage area and to their locker room. Matt got up and gave Liz a hug and AJ and Ted both a handshake.

"Thanks for coming," Matt told them. "I have shirts for all of you guys if you want them," he said reaching into a bag and handed each of them a shirt.

"So does she have any clue," Ted asked both of them.

"No clue what-so-ever," Matt answered. "I just texted her and she's almost done with her hair and wardrobe for the night so she should be back in the next few minutes."

Ted was more anxious than anybody else was. He knew how much his presence would impact her and he honestly couldn't wait to see her reaction. He knew that he had messed up in the past, never going to her games or any of her shows but he was hoping that this would start to make up for it. He had a lot of mistakes that he needed to fix in order to be more of a part of Annie's life.

"Thanks Megan," Annie told her. "It looks perfect as usual."

"You're welcome but it's not too difficult to straighten your hair, especially when you come here and it's already dry for me."

"I still like the way that you do it. I can never get it to look the way that you do."

"All it takes is years and years of practice."

"Thanks again," Annie told Megan as she walked back towards her locker room. She had gone to wardrobe to grab something for their autograph signing because apparently what she was wearing wasn't good enough. She and Jeff had almost an hour before they had to be at their signing so she went back to her locker room to find Jeff. As she approached their locker room she could hear a woman in the room. She scrunched her eyebrows together confused as she slowly opened the door. The room went completely silent and she then saw her family sitting and talking to Matt and Jeff. She stood in the doorway in shock.

"Hey baby," Liz said approaching her and giving her a hug. "Surprise."

Annie smiled as she returned her mother's hug. It wasn't that she wasn't excited to see her mom but her eyes focused straight to a pair of blue eyes, just like hers, that stood right behind Liz. Tears started to form in Annie's eyes as her mom let go of her and stood in front of her dad.

"You look beautiful," Ted said handing her the bouquet of flowers. Annie took the flowers from him, even though she could care less about the flowers. She wrapped her arms around her dad's neck tightly as she cried. Her dad being in her locker room was probably the last thing that she expected. Ted had never been to one of Annie's shows before and she didn't know how they were all able to keep it a secret from her. "It's okay darling," Ted said as he pulled away to look at her. "Is it a good surprise?"

"The best," she said through the tears. "How did this happen?"

"It was all Jeff's idea," Ted lied. Matt had been the one that had gone to his house and convinced him to go but Ted knew that Annie and Jeff weren't on the best of terms. He figured that Jeff could use all the help that he could get. "He came to my house and convinced me to come, even though I've always meant to be here. I'm so sorry for not coming to a show sooner."

"None of that matters," Annie said wiping her tears. "All that matters is that you're here now. You have no idea how much it means to me."

"I think I'm beginning to. You really do clean up nice."

"Thanks daddy. Thanks for coming AJ," she said turning her attention to her brother and giving him a hug. "I can't believe you guys are all here."

"I wouldn't miss it," Liz told her. "My daughter defending her championship at home is just amazing. We are all so proud of you."

"Thanks mom," Annie said as she looked at her fingers that now had black make-up smeared all over them. "Now I need to fix my make-up," she laughed. "I wish I didn't have to go to my signing so I could spend more time with you guys."

"Just go about your day as usual," Ted told her. "Don't let us change any of that."

"Well Jeff and I have that autograph signing but you guys can come and we could eat dinner together before the show starts."

"Okay sounds good," Ted said.

"I'll be right back," she said as she grabbed her make-up bag. "I just need to get cleaned up really quick, come on Jeff."

Jeff looked at her confused but she looked at him sternly and he followed her out of the locker room and down the hall to the bathroom. Once they were inside she wrapped her arms around his neck and started to cry again as he held her tightly around the waist.

"Thank you," she whispered into his neck. "You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"Anything for you. I knew how much it would mean to you."

"Thank you though," she continued. "Every time you mess something up you know how exactly how to make it up to me."

"You're welcome," Jeff told her. He felt bad that he was getting all the credit because it had been Matt's idea too. He held Annie a while longer until she started laughing in order to cover her tears. Jeff wet a paper towel and started to wipe the eyeliner off of her cheeks. "You're a mess," he chuckled as he continued to wipe her face.

"I know right," she joked. "You don't need to help, I just wanted to say thank you in private."

"I don't mind, really. I'm almost done."

Annie re-did her make-up and Jeff stayed with her until she was finished. She tousled her hair a little bit, smoothed out her shirt and took a deep breath in before turning back to Jeff. She smiled and nodded her head at him before taking his hand and walking back to their locker room. She opened the door and Shawn had decided to join the part. They were all watching Matt rolling around the floor, playing with Marble. She laughed as she watched how excited her little puppy was. She was going to miss him the next week when they all went overseas for the Tribute to the Troops.

"We need to go," Jeff said a little while later. "You guys are more than welcome to come and watch like Annie said."

Annie, Jeff, Liz, Ted and AJ walked down one of the endless hallways and up a few flights of stairs before they came to a conference type room that was filled with fans and photographers. They smiled and waved as the fans screamed for them, which seemed almost deafening in the small space, on their y to sit down at the table in front of the crowd. Annie smiled when she saw that her promo photo was one of her doing a moonsault in the ring, instead of her in a bathing suit or something like that. The other was a picture of Jeff and her holding each other with their titles in the ring. She put a few aside for her basement and her family, who were looking on from the side of the table.

"I guess I never realized how many people love our daughter," Ted whispered to Liz.

"She's amazing isn't she? Look at the two of them up there, so happy and confident with their fans."

"I just can't believe that all of these people are here just to see Annie and Jeff."

"If you think this is a lot wait until they go out and perform. This isn't even close to the amount of fans that they have in the arena. They could only do an hour long signing tonight so they had to limit the amount of people that they let in."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Annie tries to keep me informed of these things. She and Jeff still have merchandise that they need to sign after this too to sell at the stands for tomorrow's show but they do get to take a break to have dinner first."

"Do they do this every week?"

"Depends on the schedule, what town they're in, if they have a match, so on and so forth."

"I'm just so proud of her," Ted gleamed. He was always proud of his daughter and always had been. Even though he wasn't the best father in the world, he loved his kids more than anything. Ted thought that Annie was crazy when she had told him that she wanted to be a professional wrestler. He had told her that she needed to stop being influenced by Matt and Jeff so much. He couldn't understand why his beautiful daughter wanted to waste her life wrestling.

That was all he though until he actually saw her wrestle for the first time that night in person. When her music hit, after Maryse had been booed her entire way to the ring, the crowd went crazy for her. It had been ten times as loud as the autograph signing. When he saw her for the first time step out onto the ramp, he couldn't have been more proud. He felt like everything had come full circle. He didn't think that this was a waste of time and he realized why she loved it so much. She did it for herself but more importantly she did it for her fans.

As Annie made her way down to the ring, championship over her shoulder, she walked around the barricades touching everybody's hand. She was searching for her family. She found them to the left of the announcer's table and she stopped to give Ted a kiss on the cheek. She smiled from ear to ear as she slid into the ring and then handed her title to ref who raised it into the air. She looked over and could have sworn that she saw a tear roll down her dad's cheek.

Ted watched her match intently. He cringed every time Annie got hit because it went against everything he stood for to watch someone hit his daughter. Seeing it person was so much worse than watching it on TV. It added a new level of intensity to every hit that she took. The crowd got really behind her when she was stuck in a submission hold. Once she broke the hold against Maryse the crowd booed loudly and he couldn't understand why. He thought that they wanted her to break the hold but he soon realized that another blonde was making her way down to the ring.

Annie didn't let Crystal phase her what-so-ever, pretending like she wasn't even there. Crystal grabbed Annie's ankle as she hit the ropes and Annie face planted in the ring which allowed Maryse to get the upper hand. Annie kept on battling back and once she had the upper hand again Crystal tried to interfere. She jumped up onto the ring apron and Annie gave her a hard clothesline that sent her down to the floor. Then she did her finisher, a modified version of swinging DDT to Maryse and she got the pin-fall victory.

Ted jumped for joy, just like most of the crowd, when the ref counted 3. Annie looked exhausted when the ref handed her the Diva's Championship back. She smiled and climbed the turnbuckle that faced her family, raising her championship high above her head. Normally she tried to hit every ring post but tonight she got right out of the ring. Ted smiled as she walked over to him and embraced him in a tight hug. He could feel the people behind him trying to get to her but he didn't care. Annie had acknowledged him before anyone else. She then pulled her mom and her brother into the hug as well as her music continued to play. Ted didn't want to let go but she did after a few minutes to touch the fans' hands as she made her way up the ramp. As she stood at the top, title raised above her head, she smiled and blew a kiss in the direction of her family, trying as hard as she could not to cry.

As Annie made her way through the curtains her tears gave way. She had never cried after a match before but it was emotional to win the title back in front of her family. When she hugged her dad and he kept whispering how proud he was of her, it took a lot for her not to break down in front of the crowd. Ted was never one of those dads that expressed how he felt unless he was drinking and for him to tell Annie that meant a lot to her. Jeff came up to her and put his arms around her as she couldn't control the crying anymore.

"So when is Jeff's match," Ted asked Liz. AJ had left to grab go and grab food after Annie's match. Before Crystal had gone to the back she looked his way and winked at him.

"Last," she told him. "Usually championship matches go last."

"She did so amazing," Ted stated. "I don't think I have ever seen her so happy."

"It's because you're here. All Annie has ever wanted is for you to be proud of her and to be there when she needs you. I know that you feel like you've messed up with her and there's no way that you could have a relationship with her but she is a very forgiving person. She worked so hard in that ring tonight, no doubt trying to impress you. She just wants a relationship with you, not one that's strained or depressing."

"Are you talking about my drinking?"

"Kind of," Liz admitted. "Annie is doing so well with quitting right now and I think she needs more sober people in her life. I'm not trying to push anything on you but I'm just worried about the wrong influences being around her right now. Your drinking problem has always been something that she's struggled with and related to."

"So do you that if I'm sober it would help?"

"Immensely. Both of our children have suffered with drinking problems and I feel like they could use a positive influence. You know how much I care about you and how much I love you. I want you to be healthy more than anything and so do the kinds. I need you now more than ever to be healthy for them."

"I've been doing pretty well with it lately Lizzie. I've only been going to the bar once a week and I don't buy beer for the house anymore. I'm trying, I really am."

Ted and Liz's conversation stopped the moment that AJ came back from grabbing food. Annie headed back to the locker room after her match to get cleaned up before she had to go out with Jeff for his match. After her emotional breakdown after her match, her make-up needed to be re-done for the third time that day. For some reason she was extremely nervous to go out with Jeff for his match.

As the match continued, Annie grew more and more nervous because she knew what she was going to do. Her involvement in the match was going to be crucial and she didn't want to mess it up. As soon as Matt's music rang through the arena, the crowd immediately started to boo him. And not only him but Crystal was on his arm. How was Annie going to protect Jeff from Matt and Crystal? Plus Randy still had payback coming from the RKO that he had delivered to Annie from the night before, even though Jeff was betting the living crap out of him already.

Annie acted panicked as the two slowly approached the ring. She had back pedaled towards the announcer's table. She looked to her family as Matt stared at her angrily, knowing that it would get Jeff's attention. As Matt tried to approach Annie she turned around and grabbed a steel chair from the ring announcer. Matt immediately started to back away as she approached him with the chair. She followed Matt and Crystal until they were halfway up the ramp.

Annie then made the mistake of turning her back to Matt to head back towards the ring. The fans booing and screaming made her turn around instantly, swinging the chair in self defense. She nailed Matt as she turned and he fell to the steel ramp holding his head. Annie looked shocked at first but her expression turned evil and Crystal continued to back up the ramp. Annie then turned around when she heard Orton yelling at her. He was standing on the ropes, leaning over the top one, with both Jeff and the ref out cold in the ring. There was now nobody that could stop him from attacking her again. She approached him cautiously, trying to pretend like she wasn't afraid, as he continued to yell at her. She took a hard swing, probably as hard as she could, and connected square to Randy's forehead. The crowd erupted as Orton hit the mat and Annie dropped the steel chair, kicking it underneath the ring apron to get rid of the evidence. She circled the ring, yelling at Jeff to get up. He got up slowly, grabbing the ropes for support. He climbed to the top rope slowly and the fans stood up in anticipation. He looked around quickly before looking down at Orton and doing a huge Swanton off of the top rope. The ref crawled over to the men as Jeff pinned Randy and he counted the 3 count slowly.

As his hand came down for the 3 and the bell rang Annie jumped into the ring and ran over to Jeff. She helped him to his feet and handed him his title. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he picked her up, spinning her around in a circle. Annie didn't let go of his neck as Jeff placed her back on her feet. She looked up at him as he looked down at her. She slowly moved her face closer to his and he met her halfway. Jeff put his hand on the side of her face and pulled her lips to his. When their lips connected the fans went crazy. Annie knew that this would be the moment that she regretted. Kissing Jeff would only truly bring out the feelings that she had for him, the ones that she tried to hide in the back of her mind and bring them out to the front of her mind.

When their lips connected Annie deepened the kiss as they both smiled. Jeff let her deepen the kiss and he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. The crowd continued to go crazy. It was like the fans were waiting for it as much as Annie and Jeff were. Jeff knew, in the back of his mind, that he shouldn't be doing this. That this wasn't an acting kiss that this was the real thing. The passion that went into that kiss felt like less than half of what they had between them. He never realized what he felt for Annie before this and even as they kissed in the middle of the ring, with probably millions of people watching, he still couldn't admit it fully to himself.

Liz stood in shock, not able to move, when Jeff and Annie kissed in the ring. Annie hadn't mentioned anything about her and Jeff kissing that night or anytime in the near future. Liz could see the true connection between them, not just the acting that most people would see. Although she was beyond shocked by what had occurred in the ring, she couldn't help but be ecstatic. This was the moment that she had been waiting for. She wanted Jeff and Annie to be together, to love each other because they were just meant for one another.

Annie broke away from the kiss and they both looked at each other shocked for a moment before they smiled at each other. Annie raised his hand in victory and they both held their titles high in the air. It was one of the loudest ovations that Annie had ever heard from a crowd. It ranked up there with the roars of Wrestlemania sized crowds. She was amazed as she and Jeff walked up the ramp holding hands. They stood at the top of the ramp, titles in the air, as Raw went off the air. When they got to the back they let go of each other and stared at each other for a moment.

"So…" Jeff hesitated after they stood in silence for a minute. "That was spontaneous."

"Live for the moment right," Annie said awkwardly. How was their friendship ever going to be the same again? That kiss was more than acting. That one moment in time seemed to be the culmination of Annie's entire life and the one thing that she never wanted to leave the back of her mind.

"So that was something," he told her.

"You were okay with it?"

"I kissed you back didn't I," he questioned right back to her.

"Yeah."

"I didn't think that you wanted to do that in front of your family though."

"I just figured that we both won, we are both champions again and we're in North Carolina. It felt like the perfect moment."

"And it was," Jeff said sincerely.

He knew he was screwed after that. No doubt Danielle was going to hear about it or worse actually see it. He knew that kiss couldn't be passed off as innocent, nor should it construed as such. Jeff felt something when he kissed Annie, he didn't want it to stop, but there was no way that he could do that to his best friend or his girlfriend. His mind went back and forth as they went back to their locker room to get changed to go home.


	12. There's a First Time for Everything

**There's a First Time for Everything**

Annie woke up in the morning as Jeff snored lightly in her ear. She smiled to herself and sat up slow. Her neck was still a little sore as she moved her head from side to side, trying to judge exactly how much pain she was in. Apparently it did hurt and she should have gone to the trainer's office, like Jeff had told her to. For once he was right. She grabbed her phone off the bedside table and she had missed a call from her mom so she got up and went into the bathroom.

"You called," Annie said when her mom answered the phone.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay after last night," she stated concerned. "I couldn't tell if you were acting or not."

"I'm fine, just a little sore is all."

"You could have told me in advance, maybe warned me, so I didn't have a heart attack when he hit you with that move."

"It was a last minute change mom, I'm sorry. You don't need to worry about me so much."

"It's my job to worry about you guys, the four of you, no matter how old you get."

"I promise that I'm okay but thanks for the concern."

"No problem but I also called to tell you that I can't watch Marble today. I got called in to go work at another hospital today and I don't want to leave him alone all day."

"Oh," Annie responded.

"And I talked to Gil but he can't take him either so you'll probably just need to bring him with you. I'm sure that they won't have a problem with that."

"I guess that could take him," Annie said. "Jeff apparently didn't think this through."

"Think what through," he asked walking into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"Getting me a dog. Mom can't watch him today."

"Did he sleep-over," Liz asked through the phone.

"Yes," Annie answered. She swore she heard her mom squeal quietly.

"So…"

"So nothing. I guess I'll pick up Marble once I get dressed."

"I already dropped him off. I was going to use my key but what a surprise your door was unlocked. I don't know why you don't lock your door."

"In a town that has a crime rate of 0.1% I don't see the point and that percentage is people speeding so I don't know why somebody would break in here."

"Because you're famous."

"Not really that famous mom and I'm never alone anyways. I lock it when I'm not home at least."

"Just think about keeping it locked okay? I will make everyone a key if that's what it takes."

"Almost everyone had a key already mom," Annie said rolling her eyes. "I've got to get a workout in so let me call you later."

"Okay baby, I love you."

"Love you too mom."

Annie hung up her phone and slammed it on the counter. Jeff looked at her confused. "Don't give me that look."

"What look," he questioned.

"That one. I know you're just going to tell me that she only wants to protect me, you're lucky to have her, blah, blah, blah."

"Well are you Miss Cranky Pants this morning," Jeff chuckled.

"Shut up," she said smacking his arm. "Cranky Pants, really," she joked.

"Yep."

"Thanks for all of your help last night."

"With what?"

"Rubbing my neck, staying here to me. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"No biggy, I told you that I would. It's what friends are for. So what's that workout that you were talking about?"

"Just going for a run, figured that I would stop at your dad's house and have a cup of coffee with him."

"Do you want some company?"

"If you really want to run two miles or more and I don't want to listen to you bitch and complain."

"I'm not much of a runner anyways," he conceded.

"Exactly what I thought."

Annie walked back into her room and to her closet to get dressed in a pair of spandex running pants and a matching long sleeve shirt, a pair of shorts and her sneakers before running out the door. She ran down the path towards Gil's house. Running through the woods always seemed to calm her down, to give her a little bit of serenity. It was quiet with no sound of traffic or people, just the animals and the sound of her feet hitting the ground.

"How was your run," Shawn asked her when she got home. "You were gone longer than I thought you would be."

"I got caught up talking to Gil and then I took the longer route home. I wanted a little bit more time to breath and calm myself."

"Well go and get ready, we need to leave soon."

"Why, what time is it?"

"Past 1 and we need to leave by 2 in order to get to Charlotte on time."

"I don't get why we always need to be there five hours before the show even starts."

"It's called doing your job and part of that entails you putting in face time with the fans."

"Why do you always seem to make so much sense?"

"It's a fatherly instinct, now go and get ready."

Once they got to the arena, Jeff and Matt seemed to be acting weird, weirder than usual.

"Okay what's going on," Annie questioned them. "You two have been pretty much silent since we got here."

"Just don't feel like talking," Jeff responded.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you two. You can't stop talking the entire way here, about pointless crap, and now nothing."

"Then go find someone else to talk to," Matt told her. "There are plenty of people here that you can talk to."

"Fine," she said a little upset before leaving their locker room. She stood in front of the closed door for a minute before deciding to get her hair done.

"Come on you two," Liz spoke under her breath as she waited impatiently for AJ and Ted at a gas station. They were about an hour away from the arena and she had gotten a text from Jeff saying that they were at the arena already. "What took you guys so long," she asked when they got back into the car.

"We wanted snacks," AJ stated digging through one of the bags in the backseat. "You said we didn't have time to stop and eat even though it's still four and a half hours until the show starts."

"Jeff and Annie have an autograph signing at 6 and I wanted to catch her before that."

"I want to see her too," Ted agreed. "But if we don't catch her then we don't catch her, no big deal. She'll see us before the show starts either way."

Liz continued to drive to the arena, annoyed by her ex-husband and her son. She wanted to be there as early as she possibly could but nobody was as punctual as she was. The anticipation grew as they reached the arena. The parking garages and streets were already littered with fans as Liz drove her Envoy to the parking garage in the back of the arena. She gave her name and license to the security guard at the gate and he opened it up for her.

Once she parked the car she called Jeff to come out and meet them. He walked out the back door and gave Liz a hug.

"So where is she," Liz asked as AJ followed behind them and Ted grabbed a bouquet of flowers out of the backseat before also following them.

"No idea," he stated opening the door for them. "She got mad at us and walked off."

"What did you do now," she accused.

"I didn't do anything, I was just being quiet. It's so hard to keep a secret from her so I figured it would be better to just keep to myself."

Jeff led Ted, AJ and Liz to the backstage area and to their locker room. Matt got up and gave Liz a hug and AJ and Ted both a handshake.

"Thanks for coming," Matt told them. "I have shirts for all of you guys if you want them," he said reaching into a bag and handed each of them a shirt.

"So does she have any clue," Ted asked both of them.

"No clue what-so-ever," Matt answered. "I just texted her and she's almost done with her hair and wardrobe for the night so she should be back in the next few minutes."

Ted was more anxious than anybody else was. He knew how much his presence would impact her and he honestly couldn't wait to see her reaction. He knew that he had messed up in the past, never going to her games or any of her shows but he was hoping that this would start to make up for it. He had a lot of mistakes that he needed to fix in order to be more of a part of Annie's life.

"Thanks Megan," Annie told her. "It looks perfect as usual."

"You're welcome but it's not too difficult to straighten your hair, especially when you come here and it's already dry for me."

"I still like the way that you do it. I can never get it to look the way that you do."

"All it takes is years and years of practice."

"Thanks again," Annie told Megan as she walked back towards her locker room. She had gone to wardrobe to grab something for their autograph signing because apparently what she was wearing wasn't good enough. She and Jeff had almost an hour before they had to be at their signing so she went back to her locker room to find Jeff. As she approached their locker room she could hear a woman in the room. She scrunched her eyebrows together confused as she slowly opened the door. The room went completely silent and she then saw her family sitting and talking to Matt and Jeff. She stood in the doorway in shock.

"Hey baby," Liz said approaching her and giving her a hug. "Surprise."

Annie smiled as she returned her mother's hug. It wasn't that she wasn't excited to see her mom but her eyes focused straight to a pair of blue eyes, just like hers, that stood right behind Liz. Tears started to form in Annie's eyes as her mom let go of her and stood in front of her dad.

"You look beautiful," Ted said handing her the bouquet of flowers. Annie took the flowers from him, even though she could care less about the flowers. She wrapped her arms around her dad's neck tightly as she cried. Her dad being in her locker room was probably the last thing that she expected. Ted had never been to one of Annie's shows before and she didn't know how they were all able to keep it a secret from her. "It's okay darling," Ted said as he pulled away to look at her. "Is it a good surprise?"

"The best," she said through the tears. "How did this happen?"

"It was all Jeff's idea," Ted lied. Matt had been the one that had gone to his house and convinced him to go but Ted knew that Annie and Jeff weren't on the best of terms. He figured that Jeff could use all the help that he could get. "He came to my house and convinced me to come, even though I've always meant to be here. I'm so sorry for not coming to a show sooner."

"None of that matters," Annie said wiping her tears. "All that matters is that you're here now. You have no idea how much it means to me."

"I think I'm beginning to. You really do clean up nice."

"Thanks daddy. Thanks for coming AJ," she said turning her attention to her brother and giving him a hug. "I can't believe you guys are all here."

"I wouldn't miss it," Liz told her. "My daughter defending her championship at home is just amazing. We are all so proud of you."

"Thanks mom," Annie said as she looked at her fingers that now had black make-up smeared all over them. "Now I need to fix my make-up," she laughed. "I wish I didn't have to go to my signing so I could spend more time with you guys."

"Just go about your day as usual," Ted told her. "Don't let us change any of that."

"Well Jeff and I have that autograph signing but you guys can come and we could eat dinner together before the show starts."

"Okay sounds good," Ted said.

"I'll be right back," she said as she grabbed her make-up bag. "I just need to get cleaned up really quick, come on Jeff."

Jeff looked at her confused but she looked at him sternly and he followed her out of the locker room and down the hall to the bathroom. Once they were inside she wrapped her arms around his neck and started to cry again as he held her tightly around the waist.

"Thank you," she whispered into his neck. "You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"Anything for you. I knew how much it would mean to you."

"Thank you though," she continued. "Every time you mess something up you know how exactly how to make it up to me."

"You're welcome," Jeff told her. He felt bad that he was getting all the credit because it had been Matt's idea too. He held Annie a while longer until she started laughing in order to cover her tears. Jeff wet a paper towel and started to wipe the eyeliner off of her cheeks. "You're a mess," he chuckled as he continued to wipe her face.

"I know right," she joked. "You don't need to help, I just wanted to say thank you in private."

"I don't mind, really. I'm almost done."

Annie re-did her make-up and Jeff stayed with her until she was finished. She tousled her hair a little bit, smoothed out her shirt and took a deep breath in before turning back to Jeff. She smiled and nodded her head at him before taking his hand and walking back to their locker room. She opened the door and Shawn had decided to join the part. They were all watching Matt rolling around the floor, playing with Marble. She laughed as she watched how excited her little puppy was. She was going to miss him the next week when they all went overseas for the Tribute to the Troops.

"We need to go," Jeff said a little while later. "You guys are more than welcome to come and watch like Annie said."

Annie, Jeff, Liz, Ted and AJ walked down one of the endless hallways and up a few flights of stairs before they came to a conference type room that was filled with fans and photographers. They smiled and waved as the fans screamed for them, which seemed almost deafening in the small space, on their y to sit down at the table in front of the crowd. Annie smiled when she saw that her promo photo was one of her doing a moonsault in the ring, instead of her in a bathing suit or something like that. The other was a picture of Jeff and her holding each other with their titles in the ring. She put a few aside for her basement and her family, who were looking on from the side of the table.

"I guess I never realized how many people love our daughter," Ted whispered to Liz.

"She's amazing isn't she? Look at the two of them up there, so happy and confident with their fans."

"I just can't believe that all of these people are here just to see Annie and Jeff."

"If you think this is a lot wait until they go out and perform. This isn't even close to the amount of fans that they have in the arena. They could only do an hour long signing tonight so they had to limit the amount of people that they let in."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Annie tries to keep me informed of these things. She and Jeff still have merchandise that they need to sign after this too to sell at the stands for tomorrow's show but they do get to take a break to have dinner first."

"Do they do this every week?"

"Depends on the schedule, what town they're in, if they have a match, so on and so forth."

"I'm just so proud of her," Ted gleamed. He was always proud of his daughter and always had been. Even though he wasn't the best father in the world, he loved his kids more than anything. Ted thought that Annie was crazy when she had told him that she wanted to be a professional wrestler. He had told her that she needed to stop being influenced by Matt and Jeff so much. He couldn't understand why his beautiful daughter wanted to waste her life wrestling.

That was all he though until he actually saw her wrestle for the first time that night in person. When her music hit, after Maryse had been booed her entire way to the ring, the crowd went crazy for her. It had been ten times as loud as the autograph signing. When he saw her for the first time step out onto the ramp, he couldn't have been more proud. He felt like everything had come full circle. He didn't think that this was a waste of time and he realized why she loved it so much. She did it for herself but more importantly she did it for her fans.

As Annie made her way down to the ring, championship over her shoulder, she walked around the barricades touching everybody's hand. She was searching for her family. She found them to the left of the announcer's table and she stopped to give Ted a kiss on the cheek. She smiled from ear to ear as she slid into the ring and then handed her title to ref who raised it into the air. She looked over and could have sworn that she saw a tear roll down her dad's cheek.

Ted watched her match intently. He cringed every time Annie got hit because it went against everything he stood for to watch someone hit his daughter. Seeing it person was so much worse than watching it on TV. It added a new level of intensity to every hit that she took. The crowd got really behind her when she was stuck in a submission hold. Once she broke the hold against Maryse the crowd booed loudly and he couldn't understand why. He thought that they wanted her to break the hold but he soon realized that another blonde was making her way down to the ring.

Annie didn't let Crystal phase her what-so-ever, pretending like she wasn't even there. Crystal grabbed Annie's ankle as she hit the ropes and Annie face planted in the ring which allowed Maryse to get the upper hand. Annie kept on battling back and once she had the upper hand again Crystal tried to interfere. She jumped up onto the ring apron and Annie gave her a hard clothesline that sent her down to the floor. Then she did her finisher, a modified version of swinging DDT to Maryse and she got the pin-fall victory.

Ted jumped for joy, just like most of the crowd, when the ref counted 3. Annie looked exhausted when the ref handed her the Diva's Championship back. She smiled and climbed the turnbuckle that faced her family, raising her championship high above her head. Normally she tried to hit every ring post but tonight she got right out of the ring. Ted smiled as she walked over to him and embraced him in a tight hug. He could feel the people behind him trying to get to her but he didn't care. Annie had acknowledged him before anyone else. She then pulled her mom and her brother into the hug as well as her music continued to play. Ted didn't want to let go but she did after a few minutes to touch the fans' hands as she made her way up the ramp. As she stood at the top, title raised above her head, she smiled and blew a kiss in the direction of her family, trying as hard as she could not to cry.

As Annie made her way through the curtains her tears gave way. She had never cried after a match before but it was emotional to win the title back in front of her family. When she hugged her dad and he kept whispering how proud he was of her, it took a lot for her not to break down in front of the crowd. Ted was never one of those dads that expressed how he felt unless he was drinking and for him to tell Annie that meant a lot to her. Jeff came up to her and put his arms around her as she couldn't control the crying anymore.

"So when is Jeff's match," Ted asked Liz. AJ had left to grab go and grab food after Annie's match. Before Crystal had gone to the back she looked his way and winked at him.

"Last," she told him. "Usually championship matches go last."

"She did so amazing," Ted stated. "I don't think I have ever seen her so happy."

"It's because you're here. All Annie has ever wanted is for you to be proud of her and to be there when she needs you. I know that you feel like you've messed up with her and there's no way that you could have a relationship with her but she is a very forgiving person. She worked so hard in that ring tonight, no doubt trying to impress you. She just wants a relationship with you, not one that's strained or depressing."

"Are you talking about my drinking?"

"Kind of," Liz admitted. "Annie is doing so well with quitting right now and I think she needs more sober people in her life. I'm not trying to push anything on you but I'm just worried about the wrong influences being around her right now. Your drinking problem has always been something that she's struggled with and related to."

"So do you that if I'm sober it would help?"

"Immensely. Both of our children have suffered with drinking problems and I feel like they could use a positive influence. You know how much I care about you and how much I love you. I want you to be healthy more than anything and so do the kinds. I need you now more than ever to be healthy for them."

"I've been doing pretty well with it lately Lizzie. I've only been going to the bar once a week and I don't buy beer for the house anymore. I'm trying, I really am."

Ted and Liz's conversation stopped the moment that AJ came back from grabbing food. Annie headed back to the locker room after her match to get cleaned up before she had to go out with Jeff for his match. After her emotional breakdown after her match, her make-up needed to be re-done for the third time that day. For some reason she was extremely nervous to go out with Jeff for his match.

As the match continued, Annie grew more and more nervous because she knew what she was going to do. Her involvement in the match was going to be crucial and she didn't want to mess it up. As soon as Matt's music rang through the arena, the crowd immediately started to boo him. And not only him but Crystal was on his arm. How was Annie going to protect Jeff from Matt and Crystal? Plus Randy still had payback coming from the RKO that he had delivered to Annie from the night before, even though Jeff was betting the living crap out of him already.

Annie acted panicked as the two slowly approached the ring. She had back pedaled towards the announcer's table. She looked to her family as Matt stared at her angrily, knowing that it would get Jeff's attention. As Matt tried to approach Annie she turned around and grabbed a steel chair from the ring announcer. Matt immediately started to back away as she approached him with the chair. She followed Matt and Crystal until they were halfway up the ramp.

Annie then made the mistake of turning her back to Matt to head back towards the ring. The fans booing and screaming made her turn around instantly, swinging the chair in self defense. She nailed Matt as she turned and he fell to the steel ramp holding his head. Annie looked shocked at first but her expression turned evil and Crystal continued to back up the ramp. Annie then turned around when she heard Orton yelling at her. He was standing on the ropes, leaning over the top one, with both Jeff and the ref out cold in the ring. There was now nobody that could stop him from attacking her again. She approached him cautiously, trying to pretend like she wasn't afraid, as he continued to yell at her. She took a hard swing, probably as hard as she could, and connected square to Randy's forehead. The crowd erupted as Orton hit the mat and Annie dropped the steel chair, kicking it underneath the ring apron to get rid of the evidence. She circled the ring, yelling at Jeff to get up. He got up slowly, grabbing the ropes for support. He climbed to the top rope slowly and the fans stood up in anticipation. He looked around quickly before looking down at Orton and doing a huge Swanton off of the top rope. The ref crawled over to the men as Jeff pinned Randy and he counted the 3 count slowly.

As his hand came down for the 3 and the bell rang Annie jumped into the ring and ran over to Jeff. She helped him to his feet and handed him his title. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he picked her up, spinning her around in a circle. Annie didn't let go of his neck as Jeff placed her back on her feet. She looked up at him as he looked down at her. She slowly moved her face closer to his and he met her halfway. Jeff put his hand on the side of her face and pulled her lips to his. When their lips connected the fans went crazy. Annie knew that this would be the moment that she regretted. Kissing Jeff would only truly bring out the feelings that she had for him, the ones that she tried to hide in the back of her mind and bring them out to the front of her mind.

When their lips connected Annie deepened the kiss as they both smiled. Jeff let her deepen the kiss and he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. The crowd continued to go crazy. It was like the fans were waiting for it as much as Annie and Jeff were. Jeff knew, in the back of his mind, that he shouldn't be doing this. That this wasn't an acting kiss that this was the real thing. The passion that went into that kiss felt like less than half of what they had between them. He never realized what he felt for Annie before this and even as they kissed in the middle of the ring, with probably millions of people watching, he still couldn't admit it fully to himself.

Liz stood in shock, not able to move, when Jeff and Annie kissed in the ring. Annie hadn't mentioned anything about her and Jeff kissing that night or anytime in the near future. Liz could see the true connection between them, not just the acting that most people would see. Although she was beyond shocked by what had occurred in the ring, she couldn't help but be ecstatic. This was the moment that she had been waiting for. She wanted Jeff and Annie to be together, to love each other because they were just meant for one another.

Annie broke away from the kiss and they both looked at each other shocked for a moment before they smiled at each other. Annie raised his hand in victory and they both held their titles high in the air. It was one of the loudest ovations that Annie had ever heard from a crowd. It ranked up there with the roars of Wrestlemania sized crowds. She was amazed as she and Jeff walked up the ramp holding hands. They stood at the top of the ramp, titles in the air, as Raw went off the air. When they got to the back they let go of each other and stared at each other for a moment.

"So…" Jeff hesitated after they stood in silence for a minute. "That was spontaneous."

"Live for the moment right," Annie said awkwardly. How was their friendship ever going to be the same again? That kiss was more than acting. That one moment in time seemed to be the culmination of Annie's entire life and the one thing that she never wanted to leave the back of her mind.

"So that was something," he told her.

"You were okay with it?"

"I kissed you back didn't I," he questioned right back to her.

"Yeah."

"I didn't think that you wanted to do that in front of your family though."

"I just figured that we both won, we are both champions again and we're in North Carolina. It felt like the perfect moment."

"And it was," Jeff said sincerely.

He knew he was screwed after that. No doubt Danielle was going to hear about it or worse actually see it. He knew that kiss couldn't be passed off as innocent, nor should it construed as such. Jeff felt something when he kissed Annie, he didn't want it to stop, but there was no way that he could do that to his best friend or his girlfriend. His mind went back and forth as they went back to their locker room to get changed to go home.


	13. Tribute to the Troops

**Tribute to the Troops**

"We're going to miss our flight," Matt yelled up the stairs to Annie. She was frantically running around her room trying to pack clothes for the next few weeks. This was going to be one of their longest tours of the year but also the most rewarding. Although she hated being away from home for so long, it was worth it to go overseas to do the Tribute to the Troops.

"Give me a minute," she yelled throwing clothes onto her bed. It was hard to pack for two weeks with only her duffle bag and a medium sized suitcase, which is what she normally used for a five day tour. Annie tried to get her clothes so that they were at least matching. Although they were going to the desert, she had to make sure that she had her Under Armor and Nike hyper-warm spandex long sleeve shirts and pants to wear underneath her clothes to keep her warm. After failing miserably to fit everything in her suitcase, she decided that she was going to need to do her laundry on the road.

"Finally," Matt said when she finally appeared.

"Where's Jeff," she questioned.

"He'll be here in a minute."

"So you're telling me that you've been rushing me and Jeff isn't even here yet?" He nodded. "You're an ass," she said walking towards the door to put her stuff in the car. She looked up when she walked outside and then she wished that she hadn't. Annie waved politely at Danielle as she and Jeff got out of the car. Matt's things were already in the trunk so she shoved her suitcase next to his and threw her duffle bag in the backseat. It had only been a few days since Annie and Jeff had kissed but she had been hoping that he would've figured it out from theat. She went over and grabbed his bags from him, without saying a word, to put them in the car so that he could say goodbye to Danielle.

"You okay," Matt asked when Annie went back into the house. Annie hadn't realized that her eyes were starting to water until he asked. She nodded her head before checking to make sure that her coffee maker and TV were off. She didn't really care if Jeff couldn't figure it out but did he really need to have Danielle drop him off? She never had before so why start now? Was she just trying to mark her territory?

"Come on," Matt said putting his arms around her shoulders. "We've got to get going."

"Can we at least wait until she leaves?"

"She probably won't leave until we do."

"I can't see her Matt," Annie confessed. "I thought that he would have figured it out after that kiss. Now I just feel like it brought them closer together."

"Don't think like that," Matt reasoned with her. "He's probably just confused and he's going to be for a long time which is probably why she is here. Don't give up hope okay?"

Annie nodded her head and reluctantly followed Matt out to her car. Matt yelled for Jeff as Annie got in the car without looking at him and Danielle. She and Danielle hadn't talked since she had shown up at her house on Thanksgiving. Jeff joined them after a minute and Annie watched Danielle drive out of her driveway. Annie followed behind her to get on the road to go to the airport.

Annie didn't speak to Jeff at all or look in her rearview mirror because she was afraid to look at him. She didn't want to say something that she was going to regret. It was impossible for her to tell Jeff exactly how she was feeling because she didn't want to ruin their friendship or get rejected. She had been hoping that when they kissed it would finally make Jeff realize what had been right in front of him all along. Danielle had this quality about her that freaked out Annie. She had built her house where she did for a reason, so that nobody could find it and Danielle had found it by asking a delivery guy. She didn't know anybody was mentally stable that would go ask a delivery guy how to get to somebody's house just so that they could mark their territory.

"Are you okay," Jeff asked as they were almost at the airport.

"I'm fine," Annie lied. "You know how much I hate flying. The flight to Iraq is always torture to me."

"You've got a few days before we need to fly there so just relax."

Annie rolled her eyes at him before she turned onto the road that led to the airport. He was so nieve at times. She parked her car in long term parking before they had to go through security and get on their plane to Indiana. The next 2 weeks they had two shows there and then on Sunday and Monday they were in Atlanta for the Smackdown taping and Raw, then five days in Afganistan and Iraq, then it was back in the states to Ohio and Illinios for three more shows before they had a day off to go home.

Annie seemed to forget all about Danielle while they were on tour. It was easy to forget about her when there were so many bigger things going on around her. Going overseas really seemed to open up her eyes to how insignificant her problems really were. By the time they got back to the states, which was early on Saturday morning, she decided that she wanted to go home for the 28 hours that they had off before they needed to be at the next show.

"You seriously want to go home," Jeff asked when they landed at the base in Texas.

"If I can be home for any amount of time over 12 hours then it's definitely worth it," Annie told him. "I thought that we could keep up with our tradition, that's why I wanted you to come home with me."

"You know that I love to be home but I also know how much you hate flying."

"After an 18 hour flight, what's another few hours? I want to sleep in my own bed, take a nice hot bubble bath and get clean clothes. I wore the same under shirts the entire time we were there. I really want to go home for the night."

"Alright, if that's what you really want," he conceded after a moment. "I guess that I could come with you."

"Are you going to see Danielle? I'm sure she's missing you after a week of not seeing you or hearing from you."

"As far as she knows we won't be in the states until later tonight and I won't be home for a few more days after that so there's no point in telling her."

All of the superstars boarded a bus, which brought them to the closest airport. Everybody else got on a plane to go to Ohio while Jeff and Annie grabbed a flight back to North Carolina. The only other person who wasn't going directly to the show was Shawn because he only lived a few minutes down the road from the military base. Jeff held Annie's hand as the plane took off to bring them home. The flight didn't seem nearly as bad after the 18 hour flight on the cargo plane. It took a lot less time and it was defiantly a lot smoother.

Annie smiled as she pulled into her driveway. She hated to be away from home for so long but she knew that it was part of her job to be gone for long extended periods of time. Jeff got out of the car and grabbed their bags to bring them into the house. Annie unlocked the door and her house seemed to be so insignicant after having been overseas and seeing what the soldiers were going through. Every time that she saw the men and the women that fight for this country in their element overseas, it made her life seem so insignificant. The troops appreciated them so much for going over there to see them but Annie could never understand why they got so excited to see her and her co-workers. They were only entertainers while the troops were the real heroes.

After her nice long bath, Annie joined Jeff downstairs, who already had everything all set up for them. Every year since the Tribute to the Troops started, Annie and Jeff would always get together afterward and go through their pictures to reflect on the time that they had spent over there. This year there seemed to be more picture than usual, which had been imported from Jeff's camera as well as Matt's and Annie's. It was easier to look through the pictures on the computer than to print all of them out and then have to go through them all that way. They needed to separate the pictures that they had taken into pictures to email to the office, pictures that they could delete, pictures to keep and then pictures to be printed out and framed. It seemed so silly to keep this tradition of theirs but it was something that Annie loved to do. It reminded her about the encounters that they went through over there.

The first of the pictures was from when they were getting on the plane and the ones that had been taken on it. Annie and Jeff had found a bunch of crates that were covered with netting, that was away from everybody else, to lie down to sleep on rather than sleeping in a seat like everyone else. Somebody, she assumed Matt, had taken pictures of them cuddled up on top of the netting. She put a copy of that picture in the office's folder.

"I hate this one," Annie exasperated looking at a picture of Jeff, Matt, Crystal, Shawn and Annie all playing poker on the plane. Annie was making one of the worst faces imaginable and she could not for the life of her remember why. "I'm deleting this one," she told Jeff.

"No way that's happening, this one's going to the office," Jeff laughed as he took over and moved it to the office file. "They probably won't use it anyways because we're all in it together, acting all happy and such. It wouldn't do much for the storyline."

"Thank God in most of the pictures that I look like crap in Matt is right next to me so I know they won't be putting those ones up online."

"You're lucky," Jeff told her. "But you know that they wouldn't put pictures up of you if you looked bad. I remember that they did that once and you practically killed the guy."

"And that's why I have creative control over my pictures," Annie laughed. "I have a certain standard that I need to keep myself to and if I look bad in a picture then it makes the company and the divas look bad."

"Stop trying to make it sound like you are doing it for the better of the company. You know that you just don't want people seeing you look like crap, as rare as that is."

"Thanks, I think," Annie told him as they continued to scan through the pictures. It seemed like it took a lot longer this year to go through everything. Normally they had a few beers during the process, which made it even more entertaining but Annie surprisingly didn't think of it much. It was becoming easier and easier for her not to break down and have a drink.

She loved the pictures of her holding an M-16 and this was the first year that she was actually able to shoot it. There were pictures of her joking around with it, pointing the gun at people with the safety on but they didn't know that. The most priceless picture was when she pointed the gun at Matt and he looked absolutely terrified and Jeff was just standing next to her laughing. She moved that into the company folder, as well as the one to get framed.

Whenever the superstars went overseas they were always separated into groups so that they would be able to touch more people. The only time that they were actually all together was when they were in the cargo planes and at the actual show. She was happy when she found out that her group consisted of Shawn, Hunter, Randy, Matt, Crystal, Jeff and herself. Even though it wasn't a group that would be considered friends, they all seemed to get along really well outside of the ring.

"Who took these," Annie asked as she looked at a picture of her with a particular soldier from far away.

"I did," Jeff told her as he clicked the next picture which was of Annie and the soldier walking together and the next was them hugging.

"I didn't really want a picture of us."

"Why?"

"I don't know. His story just really touched me and I don't want it to seem like a publicity stunt."

"I know that he touched you and I could tell by the way that you were talking to him that he impacted you. We don't have to send these to the office if you don't want, but I thought that you would want it for yourself, maybe send a copy over to him."

Every year that they went overseas Annie always heard a lot of stories. Some were sadder than other and most of all, there was usually one or two that always seemed to stand out to her. This year it was a soldier named Steve. His story seemed to touch her this year.

Steve had been part of their protection detail as they were traveling around. He was quiet at first and didn't seem to talk to anybody. It was something that she wasn't used to when they went over there. Annie had found out the second day that they were there that this was his 4th tour overseas and that he had re-upped his contract with the military for another 6 years. His whole life had been the military, it was the way that he was brought up. His father and his grandfathers as well as most of his uncles were in some branch of military and he knew that he was going to have the same fate as them.

During his second tour in Afganistan he had been shot during a transfer mission in the arm. His commanding officer had asked him to take time off, to stay at home in the states and not come back but he felt like he had a duty to his country to continue to fight for their freedom. Through rehab and a few surgeries he was able to go back to the thing that he loved. He never regretted getting shot because it only made him more aware and more aware. It made him look around into every little thing, to protect not only himself but also the rest of the men and women in his platoon.

It took a lot for somebody to get injured overseas and then go back to the same war zone where they were injured. Annie admired his strength and his courage. She felt bad for him because this was the only life that he really knew. His father was the only family that he had left in the world and he knew that his dad would rather have him overseas. He was never home long enough to have a relationship with anybody and he never bonded with anybody because his job entailed so much time away.

Annie could at least sympathize with him when it came to that. She understood why it was hard to meet someone when you're only home for a month or so out of the year or even less in his case. She was able to see her mother, her father, family and friends but he couldn't, none of them could. For some reason Steve's story seemed to stick out in her mind as she and Jeff continued to look through the picturese. She didn't talk to him away from everybody else so it would look good in pictures or because that's what was expected of her. She wanted to connect with him, to make him feel like he wasn't so alone in the world, in the way that he felt. Before they left, she was able to get his email address so that they could continue to communicate with each other. It was one of the only things that she could do to make his time overseas better and if that meant that emailing him would make his day when she could do it.

Annie normally didn't give out her phone number, her address or her email but she had made an exception for Steve. He didn't really have anybody in his life except for the other men and women in his platoon and she felt like he needed somebody to talk to, somebody that could send him things if he needed them or at least he wouldn't feel like he was completely alone in the world. She wished that she was able to do more for him but over the years she realized than an email or a care package made them that much happier that people weren't forgetting about them.

As the years go by it seems like people forget that there are still men and women overseas fighting for our country. It isn't in the news as often but they are still over there fighting for our freedom. Annie knew that they were only there for 3 or 4 days but their presence really impacted them, got them through the next few months. Even if they aren't wrestling fans, the WWE was filled with entertainers and people that cared about them. It may not have been much and it may not have been for long but they were still there. They still cared.

Jeff clicked the next picture and they both laughed. Why they had decided to make a human pyramid neither of them could remember but it seemed entertaining at the time. Annie smiled because all of her friends and people that she had traveling with were in the picture, including the soldiers that had escorted them around. It was a series of pictures as they tried to build the pyramid, funny when Shawn had his hand on her ass trying to get her to the top of the pyramid, awesome when they held it just long enough for two pictures and hilarious when they all went tumbling down. Shawn was having no part in it because he was of afraid of hurting his back, so he just stood on the side and laughed hysterically when the pyramid of soldiers and WWE superstars went toppling down.

Annie put all of them in a folder to be sent to the office. It had already been over 2 hours since they had started looking through the pictures before they even got to the pictures from the show. There were pictures of Annie and the other Divas getting ready. Jeff had taken a picture of Annie who looked appalled as she held up the skimpy little outfit that she was supposed to wear for the Santa's Little Helper match that the Divas were supposed to have.

"I like this one," Jeff commented as he moved the picture into the folder to be sent to the office. "It goes with you character to be that insulted by the thing."

"It didn't even cover my ass."

"Yes but I'm sure that the guys absolutely loved it."

"I know they did but you know me, I like to keep my butt covered."

"It's not always a bad thing to have it hang out. Those guys probably haven't seen some live cheek action in a while."

"Can we please stop talking about my butt," Annie exclaimed. "I'm not arguing with you but I don't want my ass to be the center of this conversation."

"Fine," he said as he continued to scan through the pictures.

Annie had done well during her match, with her team being victorious. It didn't surprise her that her team had won. It seemed like it was the right thing to do, especially overseas. Annie got changed after her match and into a bikini top that had an American flag design and a pair of camouflaged pants that she paired with a pair of black stiletto heeled boots to go down to the ring with Jeff for his match. She was beginning to not even mind going down to the ring with Jeff as his manager, she actually liked it. The only thing that would make her happier was if she had been able to shower in-between her match and his.

Jeff had brought his camcorder out with him when they went down to the ring for his match with John and Shawn against Randy, Edge and Hunter. The entire time he was panning through the crowd and back to Annie, who was following right behind him. They troops seemed to get really excited when they came out. Jeff opted for camo pants as well, instead of his traditional black pants. Annie stood by ringside as she watched Jeff wrestle. Jeff had given his camcorder to the ring announcer and at the end f the match, Annie got in the ring to celebrate with John, Shawn and Jeff. She stood happily in-between Jeff and Shawn, raising their hands in victory, Each of them went to one of the ring posts to celebrate, including Annie. Afterward Annie hugged Shawn and John in the ring, which someone had taken a picture of. She then hugged Jeff and he pulled her in for a kiss, which everybody in the crowd went wild for. Jeff and Annie walked up the ramp hand in hand to the back. There was another picture of them from behind holding hands, titles in hand and the sun gleaming above them.

Annie thought that this tour had been one of the best that she had been on. She didn't know if it was because she met Steve or because she and Jeff seemed to be doing well or that she got to spend so much time with Shawn and Jeff but it seemed to be the best that they ever had overseas.

"Well that was a lot of pictures," Jeff said once they were finished. Four hours of looking through photos and videos and they were finally finished.

"We were there for a while and I didn't want to forget anything," Annie told him. "I think I'm going to print out a few pictures of Steve and me and send them to him."

"You two seem to have connected," Jeff told her.

"I couldn't date him," she responded, knowing exactly what he was getting at. "I need to have somebody there for me to actually date them. I can't do a long distance relationship. It's one thing to only see them a few days a week and to have him overseas and me over here it's just not going to happen."

"Are you ever going to date again," he asked her honestly.

"I don't know Jeff," she told him. She wanted to tell him that she only really wanted to date him but they had been doing so well that week that she didn't want to ruin it. The pictures proved it. "I need to find somebody that I can connect with, that I don't mind spending time with. I have met everybody at work, everybody in this town and nobody can ever seem to hold my interest. You know more than anybody that I'm cautious of anybody that I date since I dated Fred."

"I thought I told you never to mention him," Jeff steamed.

"Sorry," she told him.

"You just know that it took everything in my power to not beat the ever living shit out of him."

"I know Jeff, I didn't mean to bring him up but I was just mentioning why I am the way that I am."

"Do you have any idea how much I hate that he is affecting you that much? I still want to kill the kid."

"I know Jeff," she repeated.

Bringing up Fred was always a sore subject and Annie tried not to think about him or mention him to anybody, especially to Matt, Jeff and AJ. They couldn't understand why Annie would put up with it, especially when she had the ability to fight back. Annie didn't think that every guy was like him or that every relationship that she had was going to compare to Fred, like they were going to be like him but it was always in the back of her mind. Jeff didn't know until after Annie broke up with him why she had been acting so strange. It took everything in his power and Annie's begging and pleading for him not to do anything to the kid. And he was a kid, even thought by the time that Annie broke up with him they were in their 20's. Annie had also been covering for Fred, saying that all of her bruises came from her in-ring training.

Although Annie said that their relationship didn't change her it did. It made her a stronger person, it made her realize that she couldn't waste her time trying to change somebody and she didn't have to change who she was in order to please somebody else. She realized that she couldn't force herself to be with somebody unless she really loved them and she listened to her heart. Annie knew that it was Jeff that she was going to be with and she would have rather been single then to go on pretending like she loved somebody else. She would never let somebody take advantage of her again.

Jeff tried to never think about him because it always made him so upset that Fred had hurt Annie like he did. It wasn't right for a man to hit a women, especially with the force that he had. Jeff restrained himself from hunting down Fred when he found out what he had done to Annie. It took a lot of convincing from Annie not to hurt him, even though that's what he had done to her. Jeff thought the reason that Annie was never in a serious relationship again was because of what Fred had done to her. He was her one and only long term relationship and she probably never wanted to give her heart to anybody else again. Fred scarred her for her entire life.

Annie tried to change the subject by looking through the photos again. She wanted to review the picture before they got sent off to the office and Jeff finally let it go. She needed to remember not to bring him up. As hard as tried to forget about him, which worked for the most part, Jeff was just overprotective of her and if he thought that was the reason why she never dated anybody else then he was dead wrong. She didn't have the heart to tell her the real reason.

Jeff decided to stay over that night because he didn't feel like going back to his house. He had washed all of the clothes that he had with him and helped Annie pack a new bag for the next few days of shows. He wanted to tell her how he felt about her, or at least how he thought he felt about her. It was hard for Jeff to admit that he had feelings for Annie because he didn't want to ruin their relationship. He wanted to be with her but he was afraid of the possible rejection so he stayed with Danielle instead. It wasn't that Danielle didn't make him happy but he always wanted to spend more time with Annie. It made no sense to him that, as a friend, he would rather spend all of his time with Annie. He came to realization that he would rather be with Annie on Tuesday. He had done so many bad things to her, kept so much from her and she still forgave him for some strange reason. It was the reason why now, on screen, he was the one that was initiating the kisses.

He was beginning to understand his feelings for her but rather than following his heart's desire he decided to just let it go. Why would he ruin their friendship over something that he wasn't sure about? Did he really love Annie like that? Could he love her like that? Did he feel what he thought he felt every time that he kissed her? Annie was the first thing that he thought about when he woke up, even when he was waking up next to Danielle. He knew that he shouldn't have been spending the night with Annie again but he was he. He knew that he shouldn'[t have been spending the night with Annie again but he was. He wasn't doing anything that he should have been doing because of Annie. Jeff couldn't figure out what was going on with him because he was over-analyzing every little thing. His mid was trying to manipulate him and he couldn't decide to stay with Danielle or to actually try something with Annie. He was afraid of the rejection from Annie and he didn't want to break up with Danielle unless he was sure that Annie felt the same way that he did. His mind went back and forth as he fell asleep for the night snuggled in bed with Annie breathing lightly against his chest. He smiled as he held her tighter and feel asleep shortly after she did.


	14. Turn Around is Fair Play

**Turn Around is Fair Play**

"So how are you feeling about your match tonight," Jeff asked Annie in a promo airing during Armageddon.

"I'm confident," she replied as they stood in their locker room. "All I know is that this is her last chance. I've talked to Vince and if Crystal loses tonight she will not get another title opportunity as long as I am the champion."

"But that only seems fair considering how many chances you've already given her."

"I know, I'd like to make it fair and give someone else a chance."

"Exactly."

"What about you? Are you nervous about the Fatal-4-Way?"

"I'm ready," Jeff replied confidently.

"But you don't need to be pinned to lose your title."

"Nobody will even have an opportunity baby," he reassured her. "Tonight we'll both be leaving Armageddon as champions."

Annie watched their promo and after they kissed and the camera faded out, she started to focus. She could hear the crowd's reactions during the promo as she waited in the gorilla position and after it was over Crystal made her way down to the ring. She seemed to have more energy tonight then she normally did. No matter how many pay-per-views Annie wrestled in she still got nervous before every match. She could feel that there was change on the horizon as Crystal's music turned off. Annie's music rang through the arena and the crowd went crazy when she stepped through the curtain. She made her way to the ring, title over her shoulder, amping the crowd up as she went.

Annie had been watching old tapes, trying to teach herself more submission holds. Normally she was more of a high flyer, high paced but she wanted to have different weapons in her arsenal. She wanted to use some of her new moves but they weren't quite ready yet and she didn't want to end up messing them up at a pay-per-view event. Annie and Crystal battled in the ring, each of them getting the upper hand at one point or another. About 8 minutes into the match Annie made a small mistake. She went up to do a hurricanrana on Crystal but she reversed it into a small package. The ref counted to 3 and Crystal jumped up and down for joy.

The crowd booed loudly as Annie sat up in the ring, shocked, as Crystal celebrated in the ring. Annie punched the mat in frustration before she rolled out of the ring and did the walk of shame up the ramp. She was upset that she had lost but on the other hand she was happy for Crystal because it was her first championship. She knew how it felt to win your first title and she didn't mind losing it to Crystal because it made good business sense. Annie couldn't help but smile as she watched Crystal from the monitors in the back. The crowd might not have liked it too much but they were both happy.

"Congratulations," Annie told her when she got backstage.

"Thanks," Crystal responded giving her a hug. "It was a good match."

"I thought so too."

"And it feels great to have won the title from you. I don't think it would have been the same if it wasn't you. It's amazing to win your first title from someone that you idolize and that you look up to."

"You did great Crystal. I know that it must be hard for you to have everybody boo when you win your first title."

"It's not too bad, I still know that I did well, they just don't like my character. When I first started off being a heel the getting booed got to me and the chanting bothered me but now I've come to terms with it. I'm just happy that I have the title."

"Congrats again. I would say we should go out and have a drink to celebrate but…"

"I understand, maybe we'll just have breakfast in the morning or something, go to the gym."

"Alright sounds great to me but I need to find Jeff before his match."

"Are you going down to the ring with him?"

"Not tonight. I don't really want to be down there after losing so I'm just going to shower and be backstage for when he's done with his match. We have a few pictures or videos or something afterward for a DVD or something like that."

"Okay well I guess that I will call you tomorrow morning and we'll definitely have breakfast together."

"Alright and seriously have fun tonight. You only win your first title once and I want you to go out and drink and have a good time."

"I will attempt to do that. Maybe I can rope Matt into going out with me."

"I'm sure that he wouldn't mind. If you need a ride home, I don't care what time it is, just call me and I will pick you guys up. You should have no shame in calling somebody if you drink too much. I've been there and I would rather pick you up then have you getting hurt."

"I will call you if I need to but I think that we'll be okay."

"Alright have fun Crystal."

"You too."

Annie and Crystal hugged again before Annie walked back to the locker room to let Crystal enjoy her moment. As she walked back she couldn't help but think that her time was beginning to end. Sure it was a good move for the company to give the title to somebody else but she still felt like her career was beginning to end. The only time that she had taken off during her career was the few months that she had broken her wrist in her DUI, which was also a suspension, her first violation of the wellness policy and 9 months for her torn ACL. After having been with the company for 10 years and only having a little over a year off to herself, it felt like they were beginning to get bored with her.

Having a Diva around that was a veteran helped. The fans had gotten to know Annie over the years and she knew that if she were to turn heel that she would still be hugely popular, especially now because of the relationship that she had with Jeff. The company didn't hold onto Divas for 10 years, it was practically unheard of. Most of the time they would last 3 to 6 years and the ones that had been there for 6 years would occasionally make appearances every other year or so. It just seemed like Annie was getting too old for the industry as a female, even though 33 really wasn't that old. She was in better shape than she had ever been in before.

Annie could hear Jeff talking on the phone as she walked towards the locker room but once she walked in he immediately got quiet. He told the person that he would call them later and he hung up.

"Sorry about you match," he said getting up to give her a hug. "You seemed frustrated."

"Well I knew how it was going to end so I figured that I would play it up a little bit. It was a good match thought." Annie paused for a moment. "Who were you talking to?"

"Danielle."

"Oh."

"Yeah I haven't really talked to her today, I really haven't since Christmas."

"Is she still upset that you came to my house on Christmas Eve? It's not like I even saw you Christmas Day so it shouldn't be that big of a deal to her."

"She's partly mad at me because I just haven't felt like talking to her lately. I feel like we're drifting apart."

"Why is that?"

"Annie I'm not going to talk to you about relationship problems."

"And why is that? I'm your best friend Jeff and if you can't talk to me about what's going on who are you going to talk to?"

"It's just weird is all. I know that you don't like her and I don't find it right to make you sit here and listen to me complain about someone that you don't get along with because I'm having relationship issues."

"Well I just look at it in the way that I'm helping my best friend figure out what's going on and I'm trying not to help her. Now tell me why you feel like you're drifting apart."

"Fine," he hesitated. "It's just when I go home I want to be by myself. I spend time with people all day and night when we are traveling and I would like some time to myself when I actually do get to go home. It's just that every time I feel like I'm going to get that peace and quiet Danielle is there. It's not that I don't want to spend time with her I just feel like I'm being suffocated."

"You're home all of 2 days and you feel like she's suffocating you," Annie questioned. "It just doesn't seem like you really want to be with her when you only see her maybe once or twice a week and you get annoyed by her."

"It's not only at home though," Jeff defended. "She's always calling me and texting me like right now I was happy that you walked in. I have a big match coming up and she just wants me to talk to her. She needs to learn that I have to be focused and not worrying about all of the drama."

"Well you're talking about the drama now," Annie told him. "I know that it's probably better to get this out of your mind so that you're not thinking about it your entire match. I don't know what you want me to tell you though, in regards to Danielle. I told you a month ago that I don't think it's a good idea that you're dating her. I know that you don't want to be alone but I'm here. I know that you're just one of those people that like to in a relationship and you don't want to be alone but I think in this situation it maybe better. Have you talked to her about any of this?"

"I thought that she would just get the hint if I didn't talk to her."

"Jeff you can't just ignore her because she doesn't know what she is doing wrong. You need to talk to her about all of this and if she still doesn't understand then maybe it would be better to end it."

"I know that I need to talk to her about all of this but when I see her I just feel like I forget what I was going to tell her."

"I know what you mean."

"It's not like I haven't had her come over to my house to talk and when she gets there I can't remember everything that I want to talk to her about. It's like when I see her, my mind goes blank and I have no will power."

"Jeff I've told you that I don't think she's right for you. From everything that you talk to me about and when she showed up at my house that time I feel like she is a master manipulator and you bought into it. I'm not saying that she doesn't like you or that she doesn't like hanging out with you or whatever but I just think that she maybe has something else in mind then you do."

"I appreciate what you're saying Annie but I don't know. If she can't understand where I'm coming from then you're probably right, I shouldn't stay with her. My mind is so messed up right now that I don't know if I just want to be in a relationship so badly that I'm settling for somebody that I shouldn't be with."

"All that I'm going to say now is that you need to talk to her and you guys need to be honest with her. Don't tell her that you talked to me about this because it's more likely going to make everything that much worse for you. But just talk to her and see what happens if she can chill out with the frequent calling and texting and needing to see you then see where your relationship goes but if she can't then you need to break it off with her. It's better to be alone than to be with someone who gives you a constant headache."

"Thanks Annie."

"You're welcome."

Annie got up and gave Jeff a hug and a kiss before heading off to the shower. Since this storyline started, even when they weren't filming, neither of them found it such a big deal to kiss each other goodbye. Jeff put his head in his hands and tried to clear his mind but he couldn't. He thought that if he talked to Annie about his relationship problems then maybe she would tell him how she felt. It was a ridiculous thought but Jeff wanted to be with her so badly that it was slowly killing him. He knew that he was settling for Danielle and he knew that he loved Annie. His mind was just so confused. If Annie felt the same way about him then why would she be telling him to try and work it out with Danielle? He didn't want to be the first one to say something about the way he felt but ever since they had gotten back from overseas he knew that it was Annie that he was meant to be with, it was Annie all along.

Annie stayed in the shower longer than she probably had to just to make sure that Jeff had left for his match by the time she got back there. It was silly and stupid but she didn't want to see him. It killed her to tell him to talk to Danielle and try to work it out even though she didn't want to see that. She wanted to be with him but he didn't need to hear about her feelings for him/ She thought that it would only complicate what he was feeling that much more. She wanted him to be stable and to figure it out on his own. But how long would she wait for him to figure it out? She got dressed in a pair of jeans, a white tank top and a hat before going down to the gorilla position to watch Jeff's match on the monitor.

As Jeff walked down to the ring for his match he couldn't help but be intimidated. He knew that his mind wasn't right to be performing but he was going to anyways. He looked down at Cena, Orton and Edge as he walked down the ramp and he knew that the match wasn't going to go like they had planned. Normally Jeff kept his cool and didn't let his personal life interfere with his match but for some reason he just couldn't get his mind to slow down. It was like his mind was moving at hyper speed, he couldn't focus and his body couldn't keep up.

John knew that something was wrong with Jeff. He noticed that Jeff had missed a few spots that they had planned on doing and that Jeff seemed to be a little out of control at times. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly was going on. John knew that at one point Jeff was going to attempt a Swanton but he didn't. When he locked up with him in the corner he told Jeff that he missed a key spot. Jeff then shook his head, trying to get out whatever was keeping him from performing like he should.

Edge had gotten thrown out of the ring by Orton and Jeff knew that was his cue, he could at least remember that much. With Orton and Cena both down on the mat, Jeff could have easily won the match by doing a Swanton on one of them. Jeff climbed up to the top rope and looked at all of his competitors. The crowd began to rise to their feet because they knew that a Swanton was coming. Jeff was about to go for it on Cena but then he focused his attention on Edge, who was still lying on the outside of the ring. The crowd screamed as Jeff took a suicide dive off of the top rope to land on Edge but he moved at the last possible second. Jeff's back crashed onto the floor outside the ring and he was out of the match from then on.

A few minutes later Cena got the pin on Orton after he had done an Attitude Adjustment to both of them. Jeff looked up from the floor to see Cena celebrating in the ring with the championship that was supposed to be his. The crowd seemed divided, half of them cheering and the other half booing. Jeff hadn't really moved since his back had nailed the ground.

Annie couldn't wait in the back any longer. She had to make sure that Jeff was okay. He hadn't really moved at all since he had hit the floor. John was still walking up the ramp when she ran down past him to check on Jeff. There had been so many times in the past that she wished she could have gone out to check on him but she couldn't. At least now she had an excuse to go out to the ring and make sure that he was okay. She would probably still get yelled at but she would deal with it. When she got to his side he was holding his back and wincing in pain.

"Are you okay," she asked getting on her knees next to him. She kissed his forehead and brushed the stray hair out off his face.

"Just landed weird," he said through his teeth. Annie tried to help him to his feet but he kind of brushed her off. "I'm okay," he repeated over and over again.

"Who are you trying to convince here," she joked as she wrapped her arm around his waist. "Stop fighting it and lean."

He reluctantly put his arm around her shoulder and the crowd rose to their feet as they walked up the ramp. It had not been a good night for the couple. Both of them had lost their titles and only because they had both made stupid and costly mistakes. Jeff and Annie both waved to the crowd before exiting. Matt was waiting for them when they got to the back. He had lost his title match to CM Punk earlier in the night and had already changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"You okay," he asked Jeff.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, I just have a lot on my mind."

"Is that why you seemed so distracted?" Jeff nodded. "If you're not okay I can skip going out with Crystal if you want."

"I'm fine, I promise. I have Annie if I need anyone."

"Alright then I guess I'll shower so Crystal and I can go out and celebrate."

Matt hugged Annie and gave Jeff a pat on the shoulder. He got ready back in their hotel room, the 3 of them were sharing because they always ended up in the other's room anyways, and then he went to Crystal's room to pick her up.

"You look nice," he said when she opened the door. Her hair and make-up were done and she was dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a revealing black top.

"Thanks so do you."

"So are you ready to celebrate your first championship?"

"There's nothing that I would rather be doing."

Even though it was late by the time that they were able to go out, Crystal still wanted to celebrate so she and Matt went out to the closest bar that they could find in Austin. It was still relatively warm outside considering that it was almost New Years. Once they were at the bar they found a spot to sit down with their drinks.

"Are you happy," Matt asked her.

"I don't think that I could be happier right now. I feel like my life is finally going the way that I want it to go."

"Were you depressed at some point? You don't really seem like the type of person that would be depressed."

"It's not that I was depressed," she said taking a sip of her drink. "I think that I just needed to grow up and figure out that this is really what I want. I've made a lot of sacrifices to be here and I think that I needed to come to terms with the fact that I'm single. I think that I'm finally okay with it and if I meet the right person right now then so be it but I'm not going to search for someone. I feel like if I'm looking then I'm going to get into a situation that I don't want to be in."

"I feel the same way," Matt told her. "It's taken me a while now to be able to trust somebody after what Amy did to me. It's hard for me to believe that somebody who said that they loved me could do something that would screw me over so badly."

"I didn't know that was real," Crystal said. "I thought that it was just a storyline."

"No, it stemmed from the truth. I found out that she was cheating on me and it pretty much ruined me. I thought that I was going to marry her someday, we built a house together and we had a dog. We had been dating for so long and I don't know what I did to make her cheat on me."

"It's got nothing to do with you," Crystal reassured him. "It takes a fucked up person to cheat on somebody and the only person that there is to blame is the one that did the cheating. I'm sorry that she did that to you but you have to look on the bright side of things."

"I guess so."

"Just think of it this way, at least you guys weren't married yet. If you were married it would have been a really bad situation to be in but at least now you have perspective. It might take a lot of time to earn that trust when you start a relationship but now you have a piece of mind to see the signs. I highly doubt that any of it was your fault."

"I know it really wasn't my fault, I realize that now but I just feel like I'm never going to be ready to have a relationship. I've dated in the last few years but there hasn't been one person that has stuck out to me. I'm not sure if I'm looking in the wrong places or because of what Amy did to me but I just don't trust people and it's starting to get lonely."

"I know that Annie has probably told you this too but it's better to be alone then it is to be in a relationship with somebody that you're just settling for."

"The only reason she says that, and especially to Jeff, is because she knows that she is in love with him and she just wants him to listen to his heart. She knows that he loves her but he's too ignorant or too chicken shit to figure it out."

"How long have they known?"

"My mom knew I think the minute that we all met each other, which was 28 years ago or something like that but it's only recently that they are actually admitting it. It was hell watching the two of them in high school because I've known all along. I think Annie finally stopped lying to herself when this whole storyline started and I think that Jeff really figured it out after they kissed for the first time."

"So is that why this storyline started?"

"I think that Vince was sick of them dancing around the fact that they were in love with each other. He knew that by threatening to suspend Annie, which would have ended her career, and by threatening Jeff with the same thing that it was the only way that they would have agreed to it. I've got to hand it to Vince though, his plan worked."

"I have a feeling that Annie set us up too," Crystal admitted finishing her drink.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm betting that she and Jeff talked to Vince after they figured out their storyline and figured, hey, let's get these two together."

"You think that they wanted us to date," Matt questioned. He thought hard about how Annie and Jeff had always acted around Crystal. He knew that Jeff would normally be out with them right now but he was nowhere to be found. "I think you may be right."

"It's not that I don't like you because I do," Crystal explained trying to figure out the right thing to say.

"I know," Matt stopped her. "It's not like I don't think you're attractive and that you're a great friend but…"

"There's just nothing there, I understand," she laughed. "Well now that we've got that out of the way."

"No you're not getting off that easy."

"What are you talking about?"

"I noticed you and AJ talking when we went on that camping trip."

"He's a nice guy but I haven't really talked to him since then."

"Well have you given him your phone number?"

"No but I figured if he wanted it he could have gotten it from Annie."

"Annie doesn't give away our phone numbers, no matter who is asking for it. It's kind of a secret code around here because I can't tell you how many times I've had to change my number because somebody gave my phone number to the wrong person and then they gave it to somebody else."

"So do you think that I should call him?"

"I think that would be a good idea or maybe tell Annie that it's okay to give him your number. AJ is really a great guy."

"He seems like it from the conversations that I've had with him. It's a little weird that he's divorced but I think that I can get over that."

"The divorce wasn't really his fault though. Did he tell you why they got divorced?"

"We didn't really want to get into it."

"Well she cheated on him and then she ended up pregnant with the other dude's child so he took that really hard. I know that it's been a while since he got divorced and I know that he is completely over her but he may not be over the fact that she cheated on him. I know from experience that even if you're over the one that cheated on you, you don't get over the fact that you got cheated on. His situation was so much worse than mine, you even said that before. But I am telling you that he's a great guy and you really should give him a chance."

"How do you think he would be with me gone all the time? That is always the biggest issue that I find with guys."

"I think that he's used to it by now. Between the three of us he's used to not having people around all the time and he's a strong guy. He can be by himself if needs to be and I don't think that he'll be up your ass all the time if you do end up doing anything with him."

"It will probably be hard at first."

"Yeah at first but you'll get used to it. You deserve to have everything in life. You shouldn't have to sacrifice being in a relationship in order to have your career."

"Thanks Matt."

Matt went and grabbed them each another drink and then joined Crystal again at the table. Annie waited around in her hotel room, not really sure what to do. Matt was out with Crystal and Jeff was nowhere to be found. Normally she didn't get left alone, especially when she was at a show. She would have called Shawn but he ended up going home to be with his family. He had invited Annie to go but she had already told Crystal that she would pick her up if she needed a ride so she went back to the hotel room thinking that she would find Jeff there. It was her understanding that Jeff was going back to the hotel room but he didn't. She ended up falling asleep around midnight but she was only asleep for a few hours before she got woken up by Jeff falling into bed next to her. She moved and looked at him before turning the light on. Matt was fast asleep in his bed already and Jeff looked like hell.

"Where were you," Annie asked him softly. He breathed out heavily before rolling over to face her.

"I was out," he managed to put together. She could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Who were you with?"

"Who are you, my mother," he snapped at her.

"No, I was just worried about you was all. What were you doing?" He closed his eyes and didn't answer her. "Okay what's going on with you? You were all disoriented during your match and now you come back here at 2:30 in the morning and you can't even keep your eyes open." He still didn't answer her but slightly opened his eyes just to prove a point. "What did you take," she questioned. She had only seen Jeff a few times when he was on drugs and normally she could tell right away. How long ago had he done them, how much and what kind did he take?

"I don't know."

"You don't know what you took?"

"No I know but I don't feel like telling you."

"I know that you don't feel like telling me but I would really like to know what you took so I can know if this is normal or not. I don't want you getting sick."

"I'll be fine," he muttered. "Trust me," he said hitting her lightly in the face with his hand. "I just had a few drinks, which is why I'm out of it."

"Jeff are you sure?"

"I'm fine Annie, promise. I know how much is too much."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay? Maybe we should get you in the shower."

"No," he grumbled. Annie knew that it would probably be a good idea to get him in the shower. It would have been a good idea for Matt to take one too but he was passed out in the other bed. Great now she had a drunk Matt and drunk and drugged up Jeff to take care of at the same time. At least she normally only had one of them but two was pushing it. She grabbed Jeff and literally dragged him to the shower.

"Strip," she demanded of him as she started the water for him. Jeff surprisingly did what he was told as Annie checked the water to make sure that it wasn't too hot for him. She turned around and probably should have lifted her head before she did. "Oh jeez," she said covering her eyes. "I didn't mean to fully strip Jeff," she exclaimed.

"Sorry," he chuckled. "When a woman tells me to strip I do."

"Good to know," she joked as she opened her eyes and looked into Jeff's as she helped him step of the side of the tub. "Sit," she instructed.

She held onto him as he sat so that he wouldn't fall over and Annie dumped water onto his head trying to make it so he would keep his eyes open. Truth be told all she wanted to do was make sure that he didn't fall asleep yet. She had learned that by keeping him awake it tended to make the affects of whatever drug he had taken to be less drastic. Halfway through Jeff's bath Matt came into the bathroom with his hair all disheveled, still in his jeans, t-shirt and shoes.

"How you feeling," Annie asked nicely as she rubbed a face cloth around Jeff's back. Matt smiled but then made a break for the toilet. "Really," Annie yelled at the ceiling as she grabbed Matt's hair out of his face. "Really," she repeated again as he heaved.

"What about me," Jeff complained from the bathtub.

"Give him a minute," Annie said calmly. "Just stay sitting up please."

Annie flushed the toilet when Matt was finished and helped him take off his shirt and his shoes.

"Pants too," Matt grumbled.

"You can't take them off yourself," Annie asked annoyed. "Jeff managed to get undressed by himself."

"He didn't drink as much as I did," Matt mumbled. Annie grunted but unbuttoned his pants anyways.

As she sat on the edge of the bathtub with Jeff sitting naked in the bathtub and Matt lying on the cold floor in just his boxers she couldn't help but laugh. "This is what I get for being the sober one," she joked to herself. Matt seemed to have fallen asleep so she went back to trying to help Jeff. The bath did seem to help him sober up a little bit so she handed him a towel after she finished washing his hair.

"Can you stand up," she asked holding out the towel in front of her. He tried as best as he could by putting each of his hands on the side of the tub and lifting himself up but just barely. Annie wrapped the towel around his waist before helping him step over the edge because she wasn't going to take any chances with him falling over and cracking his head open. She helped him back into the hotel room and laid him down in bed before going over to his suitcase. She found a pair of sweatpants and went back over to him. "Can you put these on," she asked nicely waving the pants in front of his face. He nodded so she let him be so she could grab Matt some clothes. Apparently this was payback for all of the times that they took care of her when she was drunk.

She brought Matt his clothes and helped him put his sweatpants and t-shirt on but decided to leave him in the bathroom in case he wasn't finished getting sick yet. She wondered who exactly had brought Matt and Crystal home but she wasn't going to keep herself awake worrying about it. She was exhausted and they had to wake up early to drive to Dallas and it was her turn to drive. She went back into the room and Jeff was passed out on their bed in his towel. She just shook her head and laughed before turning the lights off and lying down next to him. It would not have been good if Matt decided to go to sleep in his bed and ended up landing on top of her so she would have to deal with a drunken Jeff sleeping in the middle of the bed.


	15. Suspended

**Suspended**

Jeff woke up early Monday morning when Annie's alarm went off. His head was killing him and he couldn't even remember getting back to the hotel room the night before. He rolled over and realized that Annie was lying next to him. She grumbled as she started to wake up and Jeff slowly sat up in bed. Then he looked down.

"Okay," he asked confused. "What the hell happened last night?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Annie told him.

"What did we do?"

"We didn't do anything," she reassured him as she sat up slowly to look at him. "Matt came home drunk then you came back here, woke me up and I noticed that you weren't acting like yourself. You wouldn't tell me what you took though."

"I honestly don't remember what I took. I don't even remember coming back here. But that still doesn't explain why I'm naked."

"One you're not naked, you at least have a towel on and two, I gave you clothes to get dressed but apparently you didn't want to."

"Why was I naked to begin with?"

"I told you to strip so that I could get you in the bathtub. I thought that you would have at least kept your boxers on."

"I'm so sorry," he said looking at her. "I didn't mean for you to take care of me."

"Well it was either I take care of you or I bring you to the hospital. If I brought you to the hospital then Vince would have heard about it then you would have been suspended so I tried to keep you awake by getting you in the bathtub."

"That explains a lot."

"Yeah and while I was trying to clean you up Matt came in and started throwing up."

"What happened with him?"

"He went out celebrating with Crystal and drank too much. It was just a treat sitting in between the bathtub and the toilet, taking care of both of you."

"I'm so sorry," he repeated.

"You guys have done it for me enough times."

"Yes but you're a female. It could not have been easy for you to take care of both of us."

"No but dragging you in the bathroom was pretty entertaining," Annie chuckled. "I never knew I was strong enough to drag you."

"You seriously had to drag me," Jeff questioned raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah. You fell down once and I didn't want to take the chance of you falling and cracking your head so I just kept you on the ground and dragged you."

"Where is Matt," Jeff asked looking over to the other bed. Annie followed his eyesight and Matt wasn't there.

"He must still be passed out on the floor of the bathroom." Annie got up off the bed. "You should probably put some pants on," she joked as she headed towards the bathroom. She peeked in but Matt wasn't there. "Jeff please call Matt."

"Why? He's not in there?"

"No," she said a little panicked. Where the hell had he gone? He wasn't even able to sit up when she went to sleep.

"His phone is off," Jeff called as she walked back into the room. Annie went over to her phone and called Crystal. She was supposed to have breakfast with her but she needed to find out where Matt was and she had no idea what condition Crystal was even in.

"Hello," Crystal said groggily.

"I'm sorry to wake you up," Annie said apologetically. "Is Matt there by any chance?"

"Yeah," she told her. Annie sighed in relief. "He showed up here around 4 saying that he was lonely and wanted to snuggle."

"Oh thank god. I got a little scared when he wasn't on the floor in the bathroom."

"He said he would have stayed with you but said that Jeff was naked in bed with you," Crystal laughed.

"It's a long story. He was a little too wasted after his bath to get dressed and I was too tired to try and get him dressed too."

"I'm sorry about Matt. I didn't realize that he drank that much."

"It's okay, seriously. You were too busy celebrating to pay attention. Did you still want to have breakfast or are you too hung over."

"We can go out still. Just let me take a quick shower and I'll meet you in your room."

"Okay."

It only took Crystal 20 minutes to come and get Annie before they went to breakfast. Crystal had decided to let Matt sleep a little bit longer while they were at breakfast.

"So how was last night," Annie asked as they sat down at the hotel restaurant.

"It was a lot of fun," Crystal told her. "I wish that you could have been there."

"I'm sorry. It's still kind of hard for me to be around that much alcohol."

"I do understand why you weren't there but it still sucks"

"How did you guys end up getting back here? I told you that I would have gone and picked you guys up."

"We just got a cab. I figured that you and Jeff were sleeping so I didn't want to wake you up."

"I wouldn't have cared at all, trust me."

"What happened last night anyways?"

"It's a long story but I just ended up taking care of Jeff and Matt. They were both pretty messed up."

"I should have just had Matt stay with me."

"Did anything happen with you guys," Annie asked taking a sip of her orange juice.

"No and I don't think that anything will ever happen between us. We're good as friends but there just isn't any attraction there."

"Oh."

"Thanks for trying though."

"What do you mean," Annie questioned.

"I know that it was you and Jeff who put Matt and I in a storyline together hoping that we would end up being a couple."

"I did no such thing."

"Of course you didn't," Crystal chuckled. "I'm not really interested in Matt."

"Is there anyone that you are interested in?"

"Yeah but I don't think that he'd give me the time of day."

"Do I know him?" Crystal nodded. "Who is it?"

"I don't know if I should tell you right now."

"Come on Crystal, please. You know that I can keep a secret."

"It's not about keeping a secret. You're the one that I'm afraid of."

"It's not Jeff is it?" Crystal shook her head no. "If it's not Jeff then I probably won't care."

"I don't know Annie, I'm pretty sure that you will."

"Crystal, seriously."

"It's your brother," she said hesitantly.

"AJ," Annie said in disbelief.

"Yeah. We were talking when we were camping and I don't know. I felt like there was something there." Annie didn't know what to say or what to think. Crystal thought that she liked AJ. It was hard for her to wrap her head around what Crystal was saying.

"Well that's certainly something," Annie said after a few moments. "Well does he know? Have you guys talked?"

"Not really but I was hoping that you would give him my number."

"I can do that. He asked for it the other day but I don't like to give people's phone numbers away, it's not the way that I work."

"I appreciate that you aren't giving random people my phone number but I'm officially give you permission to give AJ mine."

"I'll be sure to do that when I see him or talk to him next."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

Crystal and Annie finished their breakfast before they went upstairs to get Matt and Jeff to make their way to Austin for Monday Night Raw. The work week seemed to fly by and before they knew it, it was time to go home. Annie smiled as she drove up to her house. She hated to be away from there and her puppy was wicked excited as he sat on the passenger seat, waiting for her to open the door so he could run around. She had stopped at her mom's house on the way home to pick up Marble and while she was there her mom had told her that they would be having a family meeting soon, whenever it was convenient for everybody. Annie didn't question her because she figured if her mom wanted to tell her what it was about then she would have told her.

Jeff had barely walked into his house when his phone started ringing. He seriously couldn't even be home for a minute without Danielle calling him. It was getting ridiculous. He was ready to talk to her and he was ready to try and work out their problems. He put his bags down inside the door and looked puzzled when he didn't recognize the number.

"Hello," he questioned.

"Is this Jeff?"

"Yes may I ask who's calling?"

"This is Dr. Black calling and I regret to inform you that you have violated the wellness policy for the second time."

"Are you serious?"

"We think that it would be best for you to take your suspension and get some treatment. I know that you have denied rehab in the past but it might do you some good."

"I appreciate the call but I don't need rehab. I did something that I shouldn't have done and I fully regret it."

"The offer is still on the table if you want to go in that direction but I wish you all the best and we will be informing Mr. McMahon of your suspension. It will last 60 days from Monday, which was the last night that you competed and when the test was given to you."

"Alright."

"Once again Jeff we wish you the best."

"Thanks," he said throwing his phone onto the couch. He knew that phone call was coming. They had randomly administered a drug test on him Monday before the show started. It figured that it would come the day after the first time that he had done any type of drug in over a year. It was karma. He didn't know what he was going to do now. The first person that came into his mind was Annie. What was going to happen to her now that he was suspended? Was she going to take a vacation now that she wasn't champion? How were they going to deal with their relationship? He was only worried about her.

He looked around his empty house and didn't know what he was going to do. He would have 60 days off in order to figure things out. He knew he had made a mistake and that he shouldn't have done what he did but he had done it and there was nothing that he could do to take it back, except to learn from it. Jeff didn't want to deal with it, he just wanted to hide and hope that nobody would talk to him about it. He knew that he was going to have to explain it to Annie. Annie knew that he had been on drugs Sunday but she had no idea that he had been drug tested and that he was going to be suspended. She was the last one that he wanted to talk to.

Annie thought that there was something wrong when her phone rang at midnight. Nobody ever called her that late and when she looked at her cell phone it was Vince McMahon calling so she answered immediately.

"What's going on Vince," she asked. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm sorry to call you so late and on your day off but I wanted to see if you've talked to Jeff."

"I haven't talked to him since I dropped him off at his house. Why? What's going on?"

"He failed his drug test on Monday and I just wanted to make sure that you were going to be okay."

"What do you mean he failed his drug test," Annie questioned surprised. She didn't want him knowing that she knew that Jeff had been on drugs Sunday. "What's going to happen to me?"

"I'm still trying to figure it out but on a personal level I want you to look after him. I know that it's not your responsibility but I think that he could really use somebody that he can trust. I also know that you're going through a lot right now too and I want you guys to be there for each other."

"So do you think I should be taking time off too? Is that what you're trying to get at?"

"Honestly Annie I don't know. I've been trying my hardest to come up with a solution to have you and Jeff keep your relationship on screen without him actually being there. You know that I always come to you when I'm having issues trying to figure out what storyline to give you so if you have any ideas let me know."

"Are you getting bored with me," Annie asked. "Aside from this whole thing with Jeff I mean."

"I don't think I understand."

"I just feel like you guys are trying to phase me out. I mean if that's what you're trying to do then tell me because I don't want to be holding onto something that isn't there anymore."

"Annie we are anything but trying to phase you out. I feel like you're one of the only reasons that the Diva's division is actually surviving. Why haven't you talked to me about this? You should be able to come to me after all of these years with issues like these."

"Part of me thought that it was all in my head but then I started thinking about it. This whole thing with Jeff and I feels like a last ditch effort and like it's going to be the last thing that I do in this company."

"What if it is," Vince questioned.

"Well then I had a great career as a wrestler, a better one than most females do. But the WWE is my family. I don't think I can even picture my life without this company. However there is going to come a day when I am going to retire but I just don't think that it's anytime soon."

"And I don't think so either. I just wanted to see if you had any ideas about what to do with your storyline while Jeff is suspended."

"I need to think about it, see if I can come up with anything. I can't believe that he wouldn't tell me about any of this."

"He's ashamed," Vince told her. "I talked to him and he feels badly for doing what he did. He didn't want me to tell you but I needed you to know. I couldn't risk him waiting until you were about to get on a plane to go to the next show. I do need your help here. I've never been in this kind of situation before. We want you guys to stay in a relationship, I at least know that much. When he comes back you guys will continue where you left off."

"But right now the only thing that you can think of is to have me take time off too?"

"It's an option," Vince explained to her. "You taking time off is a last resort but it's an option. Just try and think about some different things that you've been thinking about."

"Maybe I should feud with someone besides Crystal for starters. If Crystal and Matt are still together and I continue a feud with her then Matt will still be present and Jeff will be missing. How are you even going to explain his absence?"

"By telling the truth."

"Oh."

"I've already talked to him about it and he's okay with making it public and part of the storyline if it helps."

"Looks like I'm not sleeping tonight."

"I don't want you to lose sleep over it," Vince told her. "We don't really need a new angle until Monday. If you want to skip the house shows this week then it will be fine until we figure out what to do with you."

"Okay just let me have tonight and I should be able to come up with some ideas. I'll give you a call tomorrow at a somewhat decent hour."

"I do apologize for calling you so late but I needed to explain what was going on."

"I understand, I was awake anyways but let me call you tomorrow. I've got a lot of thinking and yelling to do."

"Don't give him too hard of a time. I already laid into him pretty bad."

"Okay I'll try to keep my cool but I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Good night Annie."

"Night Vince."

Annie hung up her phone and paced around her living room. She grabbed the keys for her dirt bike and ran out to her shed. She didn't have the patience right now to drive the roads over to Jeff's house. She kick started it to life and sped off towards Jeff's house. It was a good thing that the only people that lived near them were family. She wasn't sure that a residential neighborhood would appreciate someone riding a dirt bike at 12:30 at night. She whipped her bike to a stop in front of Jeff's house and couldn't walk fast enough to slam on his door.

"Annie," he asked groggily in a pair of sweatpants as he opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I want to know why you didn't tell me that you got suspended," she said angrily.

"Can we not do this now," he pleaded.

"No we're doing this now because I just got off the phone with our boss. Would you like to explain to me why I got a phone call from him telling me about your suspension and not you?"

"I wasn't keeping it from you," he explained calmly inviting her in. "I was going to tell you in the morning because I knew if I told you tonight that you would be up all night worrying about everything. I didn't think that Vince was going to call you now. I wanted to give you a good night's sleep and tell you at breakfast tomorrow. I just got off the phone with him like an hour ago."

"And apparently he called me right after you. He wants me to try and figure out something to do while you're away. Jeff we were finally doing good at work, we had everything figured out. I knew that you were messed up the other night, before you even got back to the hotel room, but I didn't do anything to stop it."

"Annie there was nothing that you could have done. I knew that I was doing something wrong on Sunday afternoon and even if you had hung out with me more or stopped me from doing anything on Sunday I was still going to fail the drug test. You have to know how sorry I am for messing this up for you."

"Jeff I'm not mad at you," Annie said sitting on his couch. "I just thought that you were lying to me again, that you were keeping things from me."

"I really wasn't," he said sitting next to her and putting his arm around her shoulders. "I've learned my lesson about keeping things from you. I know that you didn't sleep well during this stretch of shows and I wanted to give you one night of good sleep."

"I guess that I can appreciate that."

"Do you want to stay with me tonight?"

"Marble's at home."

"He'll be fine until the morning. I have something planned for you tomorrow anyways."

"Like what?"

"You'll see tomorrow but first you're going to breakfast with Matt and then I get you for the rest of the day."

"What does Danielle think about this?"

"We're supposed to be having dinner tomorrow night to talk about things so we'll see how it goes."

"Well I guess that I wouldn't mind staying here tonight. It's a little chilly to ride in this weather."

"Why didn't you just take your car? It would have been a lot warmer."

"I didn't want to deal with having to take the streets and it's faster to get here on my bike."

"Come on and I'll get you some clean sweatpants."

Annie looked down and realized that her sweatpants and boots were covered in mud. She laughed at herself as she took them off in Jeff's living room, so that she wouldn't track mud through his house, and then she followed him to his room. He handed her a pair of sweatpants and then laid down on his bed with his arm stretched out for her.

"I'm going to go lock your door," Annie said as she looked at him.

"Why?"

"Possible psycho girlfriend and me in your bed, not a good mix," she joked as she walked back down the hallway and locked the door before turning off the lights and heading back to his bedroom. "It's been a long time since I've spent the night here."

"I know. We normally stay at your house."

"It's because my bed is comfier than yours."

"Sorry I didn't spend thousands of dollars on mine."

"You have to admit that you do sleep better at my house."

"Just shut up and go to sleep. You have a busy day tomorrow."

"Well at least you fucking up gave me the weekend off."

"What do you mean," Jeff asked as he propped himself up on his pillow.

"Vince told me that I won't be needed until Monday thanks to you. They need to figure out something for me to do before I go back to work."

"Well it just means that you get to spend more time with me."

"Unless your talk with Danielle goes well then you will have a lot of time to spend with her coming up and a whole lot less time with me."

"We'll see Annie. I promise that if things end up working with Danielle then I'll switch the days that I hang out with you guys. When you're home I'll spend all my time with you and when you're gone I'll spend time with her. I'm not going to lose my friendship with you just because I got suspended and you're still at work. I won't let that happen."

"You've been thinking about this," Annie questioned as she snuggled into his chest.

"A little bit. I've got to make sure that I still see you."

"I'm glad that I fit into your plan."

"You always will," Jeff said with a smile before kissing the top of her head and turning off the light. "Good night Annie."

"Night Jeff."

Jeff smiled to himself as he held Annie tightly in his arms. The feelings that he had for her weren't going away and he couldn't help but be happy that she was in his bed with him. Getting suspended was probably the worst thing that could have happened to him. He wouldn't be able to be a couple with Annie for two months and he didn't know how much that was going to affect the progress that they had made to the point where they were almost ready to admit their feelings for each other. He knew that he had messed up big time on Sunday but Danielle was stressing him out so badly that he needed something that would get his mind off of everything. He also knew that because he messed up, it was going to make Annie's life more difficult.

Annie had so much more to yell at Jeff about but she couldn't. When she saw him he looked genuinely sorry for what he had done and she knew that Vince had just yelled at him. As a friend she didn't want to pile more on top of what he was already feeling. She wanted to make him feel like shit for screwing her over at work and for relapsing but she couldn't find the words to say when she was looking at him in the eyes. She wanted nothing more than to hug him and tell him that everything would be okay. She didn't go over to his house with the intention of staying there because she left her lights on at home and left Marble there by himself.

When Jeff drove her home in the morning to get clothes Marble was sitting at the door waiting for her. She felt so bad for leaving him alone. The idea to get Annie a dog was a good idea but she felt bad for the little guy. She was never home and even when she was at least in town she usually wasn't home much. Marble was more like her mom's dog because that's where he always was. She had just enough time to take a shower and get dressed before Matt picked her up.

"So where are we going," Annie asked Matt.

"The diner, where else?"

"Of course we are."

There was a little diner in what would probably be the center of town that was one of the only places to sit down and eat breakfast. Annie and Matt walked in and said hi to everybody. They knew pretty much everybody by name because there weren't even 300 people in their town so it was pretty easy to know who everybody was.

"So Jeff told me what's going on."

"Oh yeah isn't it just great," she said sarcastically adding sugar to her coffee. "I don't know what's going to happen now."

"Well he called me and told me that he had called creative about some ideas."

"Can you fill me in so I know whether to actually lobby for this or not."

"Well he doesn't want to sugar coat anything that has happened. Everybody knows that he has had drug issues in the past and he wants to be a role model in the right way. He wants to own up to his mistakes and not just have it swept under the rug."

"You mean like they did with my drinking?"

"He didn't use you as an example but he would rather tell the truth then have the rumors circulating everywhere."

"There are going to be rumors no matter what."

"Are you angry with him?"

"A little bit."

"Why is that?"

"It's because he's sitting here trying to be all holier than now with helping me to quit drinking and then he goes and fails a drug test. I just can't believe that he would be stupid enough to take drugs again."

"He made a mistake," Matt defended. "I'm sure that he didn't mean to do it and it's possible that even with the best of intentions that somebody can relapse."

"It's been months since I've had a drink Matt."

"Yeah and it's been over a year since he has done anything. I know that I shouldn't be sitting here and defending him but he made a mistake. You guys are finally back to normal and I don't want this to ruin everything. If you made a mistake do you think that he would get angry with you?"

"I guess not," Annie said defeated. "He would be disappointed with me but he wouldn't shut me out because of it. It's just a lot of work because now everything at work is going to change and I might have to take time off along with Jeff."

"Is that what Vince said to you?"

"He said that it's an option, maybe a last resort if they can't figure out anything for me to do. I told him that I wanted to work with somebody new instead of Crystal."

"Why don't you want to work with her anymore? Is it because of AJ?"

"That's not it at all but working with her involves you and without Jeff around it won't seem right. If I stay in a feud with her you'll end up attacking me every week until Jeff gets back and I don't want to spend the next two months like that."

"I understand why you feel like that but have you put any thought into something else that you want to do?"

"I have but I want to talk to Vince before I tell anybody else about it."

"Why?"

"It's a little bit dramatic and extreme."

"Oh boy."

Towards the end of their breakfast Vince ended up calling Annie.

"I'm not bothering you are I," Vince asked her kindly. "I have some ideas that I'd like to run by you."

"I've been thinking too."

"Well you can go first."

"Okay," Annie said as she stepped away from her table and went outside to sit in Matt's car. It seemed rude to her to sit in a public place and talk on the phone. "Well I was thinking that I should turn heel."

"How is that even possible? The fans love you so much."

"I feel like I can just go out to the ring, maybe do some promos and shit talk the fans. Tell them that it's their fault that Jeff did drugs. That it was their constant neediness that led him to drugs to get some type of peace and quiet inside his own head."

"Are you comfortable being a heel? I know that you have always had a good relationship with them and do you really think that it's a good idea to shit talk Jeff?"

"I won't really be shit talking him but I figured if maybe I was the one that was talking crap about him then it won't seem so severe."

"Okay and if you plan on going heel then you can't feud with Crystal."

"I know that but I have another solution for that. The only diva that is loved as much as I am is Kelly right?"

"And she's the Woman's Champion. I'm beginning to see where you're going with this."

"Yeah that's what I was thinking. I have a plan all the way up through Wrestlemania."

"And when Jeff comes back, how are you going to turn into a face again? Matt is the heel in their feud and it wouldn't make sense for Jeff as a face to be dating a heel."

"I'm still thinking about that one. I wanted to talk to you about all of this because I went into too much detail."

"I think that it defiantly has potential. Let me talk to the writers and maybe we can figure something out."

"Alright Vince, just give me a call later."

"Will do."

Annie hung up the phone just as someone tapped on the window, which caused her to jump.

"Are you ready to go," Jeff asked her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I told you that Matt got you for breakfast and then you were mine, now come on."

"Can I at least say goodbye to him," she asked getting out of the car. Matt was walking towards her. "I guess that I'm leaving."

"It was good to have breakfast with you and I expect to hear from you about that little conversation that you just had."

"What conversation," Jeff asked.

"She just talked to Vince about what she is planning for the storyline."

"I'm kind of interested in that too," Jeff told her.

"You guys will hear about it when I know if it's going to happen. I don't want anybody hearing about it until I know that it is for sure."

Annie gave Matt a quick hug and thanked him for breakfast before she got into Jeff's car.

"Okay so where are we going," Annie asked as they left Cameron. "You have something on your mind."

"We're going to do something that you've always wanted to do but never have."

"What are you talking about Jeff? Why are you being so cryptic?"

"I'm not being cryptic," he retorted as he pulled in the parking lot.

"Really," Annie exclaimed. "This is what you want me to do with one of my only days off."

"Well you have a few extra days off for it to heal before you have to go and wrestle."

"And what do you want me to get? I haven't thought about this in a while."

"I was thinking about how you helped me come up with live for the moment and that you could get that tattooed somewhere," he said as he got out of the car and opened the door for her. "I was thinking that you could get it down your ribs in script writing."

"It's sad that you've thought about this more than I have."

"I've wanted you to get a tattoo for so long now I can't even begin to tell you."

"Doesn't getting tattooed on your rib cage hurt?"

"Like hell," he replied like it was no big deal. "It just feels like you broke some ribs while they are tattooing you and then you should fine. You just can't wear any tight clothes until after it's healed."

"IE why it needs to be done when I have a few days off."

"Exactly."

Jeff brought her inside of Gas Chamber Ink and Shannon was inside getting tattooed.

"Hey guys," he said as Mark, the tattoo artist, continued to work on his arm. "What are you here for?'

"Annie is finally taking the plunge."

"No kidding," he said with a smile. "Live for the moment," he questioned.

"Did you two both think of this instead of me," she asked. She stood around the shop looking at the other pieces that had been done. She was nervous to say the least. Annie had always wanted a tattoo but she could never decide on what she would get or where. Apparently all she needed was somebody telling her exactly what and where she was getting it done.

"Come on over," Mark said when he was done with Shannon. Annie had looked around in the books and found a font that she actually liked. Mark blew up the lettering in order to fit it to her rib cage before he put the stencil on her left side. She stood up and looked at it in the mirror. Even though it was a little bigger than she was originally thinking about getting, it seemed to really work against her small frame.

"It's perfect," she finally said with a slight smile. Now she was getting excited to get this done.

"Jeff, are you getting anything told," he asked as he laid Annie down on the table and started the machine.

"I might get the roots up a little further," Jeff replied. Mark put the needle to Annie's skin and she took a deep breath in trying not to scream. Oh yeah it hurt. Jeff walked over to her and sat next to her holding her hand. She squeezed it hard.

"How's the pain," Mark asked.

"Bad," she said through her teeth.

"Are you breathing?"

"No, not really."

"It helps with the pain if you breathe. You'll get light headed if you don't."

Annie took a deep breath in and a deep breath out before Mark went back to her tattoo. It only took about an hour and a half of constant pain on her rib cage to finish the tattoo. She smiled when he told her that it was all done. She slowly scooted off the table, being sure that it didn't bump into anything and looked at the full length mirror. Beside the swelling and the red that surrounded it, her new tattoo looked amazing.

"I've just go to cover it up and I'm sure Jeff will help you take care of it."

"I can do that," he replied. "It's the least I can do after forcing her to get it done."

Mark covered her tattoo with Vaseline and a bandage before she pulled her shirt down and went to sit next to Jeff, who was now in the chair. At least she could watch him go through some of the pain now. He was adding to the roots that were almost all the way up his arm and as Mark went to put the needle to his skin Jeff's phone rang.

"What's up Matt?"

"Jeff you need to get back here," Matt said panicked.

"What do you mean? I'm getting my tattoo done. You should see Annie's…"

"No man you don't understand. Your house is on fire."

"Jack, what about Jack?"

"I can't get in there Jeff, I'm so sorry."

Jeff ran out of the tattoo parlor and Annie stood in shock. What was going on?


	16. What Goes Up, Must Come Down

**What Goes Up, Must Come Down**

Matt couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was on his way back from the grocery store when he saw the smoke coming from the direction of Jeff's house. It was like he was frozen, he didn't know what to do. When he came upon the house it was engulfed in flames. He quickly scanned Jeff's property, making sure that he wasn't home before he took out his phone and called him.

"What's up Matt," Jeff questioned through the phone. How could Matt even being to tell Jeff what was going on at his house.

"Jeff you need to get back here."

"What do you mean? I'm getting my tattoo done. You should see Annie's…"

"No man you don't understand. Your house is on fire," Matt tried to explain.

"Jack, what about Jack," Jeff asked panicked through the phone. He could hear Annie in the background wondering what was going on.

"I can't get in there Jeff, I'm so sorry."

The call all of a sudden ended and Matt then got out of his car. He stood and waited but it wasn't long before he heard the sound of the fire trucks coming down the street. He wished that there was something that he could have done to save Jack. Jack was one of the most important things in Jeff's life and he knew how much it was going to devastate him to lose him. The sirens got louder and louder as the house burst further into flames.

"Jeff, what's going on," Annie asked panicked when she got in the car with him. The door was barely shut behind her before Jeff took off. He took the corner out of the parking lot going about 35 without even looking both ways. Once he was out on the highway he pushed his car up to 95. "Come on Jeff, what's going on," she screamed. "You're scaring me."

"My house," was all he could mutter. Annie was confused as she looked at his face. She could see the sadness starting to overwhelm him. He had asked about Jack. What was going on?

"What happened," she asked calmly, even though she was anything but calm. Jeff was scaring the shit out of her. Before he could answer her she heard the fire trucks. One pulled in front of them and Jeff followed the truck impatiently down the driveway to his house. Annie's mouth hung open in shock. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It seemed like Jeff was frozen once he stopped the car and got a look at his house.

Annie got out of the car and wanted to praise the ground and thank god that they had gotten home safely but her mind and her eyes were focused on his house. She didn't think that a house could burn that tall. Jeff finally got out of the car and tried to run into the house.

"Jeff," Annie cried as she yelled and ran after him. "You can't go in there," she said as the firefighters were trying to hold him back. She stepped from his side and stood in front of him. She put her hands on both sides of his face and tried not to cry. She couldn't let him see her pain because she needed to be strong for him. "Jeff we can't go in there, nobody can."

Annie watched as the fight died from Jeff's eyes. She hadn't seen him with that look on his face in so many years that she was surprised she remembered it. The last time that he had that look on his face was when he came back from the hospital the night that his mother died. Jeff just stopped. He fell softly to the ground and Annie was right there to catch him. She held him as tight as she possibly could as he sobbed into her chest. She rubbed her hand through the back of his hair while holding him with the other arm.

They sat collapsed on each other both crying and both watching Jeff's entire life go up in flames. Matt was trying to keep it together because somebody had to be strong. Annie wasn't able to keep her tears in once Jeff started crying. She hated to see him in so much pain. Matt needed to be the one that contacted everyone and since Jeff was obviously devastated and Annie was comforting him, Matt was left to let everybody know what was going on. The firefighters fought the fire for what seemed like hours until the flames finally came to a stop and only smoke was rising out of what used to be Jeff's house. They sat on the ground, crying and holding each other for many hours after the flames stopped.

Person after person came over to try and separate them but nobody could. Gil was the first to show up. He bent over next to his son and patted him on the shoulder.

"Everything can be rebuilt and this will only make you stronger," he said to him with a reassuring hug to Jeff and Annie. "This will only make you stronger," he repeated as he walked away and went to stand with Matt.

Elizabeth and AJ were the next ones to show up. Liz tried as hard as she could as she came up on the scene to not cry. She knew how much those two had shared in the house and she knew all of Jeff's life was in that house. Everything that he had collected, all of his artwork, his music, his writing, was all now just a pile of ash. She walked over to the both of them and didn't say anything as she sat on the ground next to them and hugged them both.

"You guys will get through this," she told Jeff and Annie. "All you guys need is your friends and your family."

AJ walked over and hugged them with his mother but didn't say anything. He knew that there was really nothing that he could say in a moment like this that would help anybody. Jeff had lost everything including Jack. Jeff loved that dog so much and all he could picture in his head was…he didn't even want to think what Jack had seen right before he died.

Danielle showed up next followed by Shannon and Julie. Jeff broke away from Annie when Danielle came over to give him a hug.

"Baby I am so sorry this happened," she soothed mournfully. "I wish that there was something that I could do to help you."

Annie stood holding herself as she cried, watching Danielle and Jeff. It was like another knife in her heart as she watched them hug. She had only met Danielle that one time but she had never seen the two of them together. It made it so much worse to see it then it was to know that it was just going on. Shannon came and wrapped his arm around her before he dragged her to Jeff and Danielle. He put his other arm around Jeff and all embraced in a hug.

Annie didn't want to be that close to Danielle but there were bigger things to worry about in that moment then the animosity that she felt towards her. Annie was shocked a few minutes later when Jeff let go of Shannon and Danielle and latched onto her again. She looked up at Danielle, who had a mixture of sadness and anger in her eyes. Annie looked at her apologetically and then focused her attention back on Jeff.

Jeff hadn't said one word in the hours that he and Annie sat on the cold ground, hugging each other for dear life. Matt and Gil were finally able to get the two off the ground once they both started shivering in order to get them in the back of Shannon's SUV. Shannon looked in the rearview mirror as Jeff laid his head on Annie's shoulder while Annie and Danielle both rubbed his back.

"Jeff where am I taking you," Shannon asked softly.

Annie and Danielle both looked at him and he quietly said "Annie's." Annie looked at Danielle and she could see the hurt in her eyes. She knew that Jeff should have probably gone to Danielle's house but there was a small part of her that was happy when he said he wanted to go to her house.

The drive to Annie's house seemed like such a long ride when it really only took a few minutes. Sitting in close quarters with the one person that Annie had animosity towards was painful for her on top of everything else that occurred. Annie had been there when Jeff got Jack and she had been there through Jeff building and decorating that house to make it his own. She felt like a huge part of their lives was gone and it was never coming back.

She also felt the worst amount of pain possible for her best friend. Jeff had already had a huge blow with getting suspended and now he had to deal with this. Having his house burn down wasn't going to help his drug problems any. She had to be there for him to make sure that he didn't use drugs to make himself feel better, to make himself feel anything.

When they got to Annie's house she managed to get Jeff up the stairs and onto her bed. She looked at Danielle and they both made a gesture to go talk downstairs. Matt stayed upstairs with Jeff so that they could go downstairs and talk.

"I'm sorry," Annie said automatically when they reached the kitchen. "I don't know why he wanted to come here."

"It's because he feels more comfortable," Danielle said defeated. "He wants to be with you, even I can see that."

"What do you mean?"

"You were the one that he wanted to hold onto, you were the one that he wanted to stay with. I thought that I could deal with being number two in Jeff's book but I can't. You can have him."

"What are you talking about," Annie questioned.

"You know what I'm talking about. Everybody knows that you two are meant to be together. You guys have a history and honestly I'm surprised that he's stayed with me for this long. I'm sorry for trying to keep him away from you. I was intimidated by the relationship that you guys have and I didn't want to admit it that you two are supposed to be together."

"Danielle I don't want you to feel like that. Jeff and I are…"

"Just best friends," Danielle finished. "Yeah I've heard that a thousand times and I know that you guys are best friends but most of the time best friends are meant to be with each other. You and Jeff are meant to be and I'm just giving in."

"You can't leave him now, after everything that he has gone through today and this week."

"He won't even notice that I'm gone, I promise you that. Just please take good care of him."

"Dani, please, don't do this today," Annie begged. "I don't know if he can deal with this on top of everything else."

"He's got you and the rest of your family and friends. I never really fit in with you guys and I really saw that today. Annie you need to be there for him and you need to love him with all of your heart."

"I already do," Annie confessed. "I'm so sorry I never wanted to hurt you."

"I knew it when I got into a relationship with him. I was surprised when he said that you guys had never done anything with each other but I knew that you two were supposed to end up together. You grew up together, you have all the same interests, and you have been through absolutely everything together. Just take care of him please, that's all I want."

Danielle looked meaningfully at Annie and Annie could see the defeat in her eyes. Danielle turned to leave. "You're not even going to say goodbye to him?"

"I just need to go," she said quietly with tears welling up in her eyes.

Annie wanted to smile, she wanted to rejoice and jump for joy but she couldn't. She finally had gotten what she wanted but she felt like a piece of shit. Why did Danielle have to do this now? Jeff's house and pretty much everything that he owned had burned to the ground, he had been suspended from his job and now his girlfriend was leaving him and all in the matter of a few days. The worst thing was that she didn't even have the decency to break up with him in person. She had used is best friend to break up with him for her.

Annie slowly walked into the living room where all of her friends and family were waiting. She looked around and she could tell that everybody was visibly upset. They knew how hard this was going to be on Jeff but she also knew him. He wouldn't want everybody sitting down here, worrying about his crying upstairs with Matt.

"I appreciate you guys all coming over," Annie started. "But if I know Jeff he wouldn't want all of you guys sitting down here, being all depressed over what happened to him."

"We understand," Liz said as she walked over to her daughter. "You just go upstairs and be there for him. If you need anything we are all just a phone call away. Do you think he needs anything?"

"He's going to need everything. He has some clothes here and a toothbrush, stuff like that, but it's only going to last for a few days. Maybe you and I could go out in a few days and go shopping for him, probably when he's sleeping."

"What about work?"

"I'm going to call Vince when you guys leave. We were talking earlier about me possibly taking a few weeks off anyways. I've never asked to take time off so it's probably not going to be a big deal."

"Alright baby, just call if either of you needs anything."

"I will."

"And I will see you tomorrow for our family meeting."

"I don't get any hints," Annie asked.

"Nope no hints. I love you baby girl."

"I love you too."

Liz hugged and kissed her daughter before the rest of their friends and family came up to her and did the same thing. Once everybody but Matt had left she sat down on her couch in the living room to call Vince.

"What can I help you with Annie?"

"I was wondering if I could take a week or more off."

"What's going on? You've never asked for time off before."

"Jeff's house burned down earlier today and he really needs me. I just don't think that I can leave him right now and you said that you wanted me to take care of him and make sure that he didn't do anything stupid. I need to be here for him."

"Is everybody okay," Vince asked concerned.

"Everybody is fine, except his dog and the rest of his possessions were in his house. He's staying with me for now but I can't bear to leave him. His girlfriend just broke up with him and I can't just leave him alone."

"Taking the next week off should be fine and we might be able to stretch it to two weeks. I guess that we could send a camera crew to your house and you could cut a few promos to start you off as a heel, rather than you doing the promos in the ring. I want you to think about what you want for your new music and Julie will be making you new ring attire so you need to think about that too."

"If you need to send a camera crew just let me know when and I'll be here."

"Okay I will get on it and let you know by tomorrow."

"Thanks Vince, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"You're welcome but the last thing that we need right now if for Jeff to get even worse than he already is."

"That's what I was thinking, thanks again though."

"You're welcome. Now go take care of him."

"I will thanks."

Annie hung up the phone and took a deep breath in, trying to mentally prepare herself to see Jeff again. It was easier for her to hold it together when he wasn't around because she didn't have to see the pain that was in his eyes. She didn't have to see the anguish that he had within him that he always tried to keep inside.

She slowly walked up the stairs to her bedroom. She could hear the quiet whispers of Matt as she approached and slowly opened the door. Matt looked up but Jeff kept his head buried in the pillow. Annie and Matt seemed to have a silent conversation before Matt got up off the bed. Annie slowly approached her bed and knelt down beside Jeff.

"Jeff it's me," she stated quietly putting her hand on his back. "Do you think you can make it to the bathroom?" He shook his head. "Come on, we're both freezing and the Jacuzzi tub will feel really good," she said trying to pull him off the bed. He was reluctant at first but once he realized that she wasn't going to give up he stumbled into the bathroom with Annie holding him around the waist.

Until she started the bathtub and felt how hot the water was she didn't realize how cold she actually was. She took off her sweatshirt, shoes and pants which left her in her shirt and underwear. She wasn't allowed to wear a bra because of her new tattoo. She had forgotten all about that with everything else that was going on. She knew that she wasn't supposed to take a bath with it for a month or so but she needed one desperately. If Annie ended up messing up the tattoo then so be it. Jeff didn't even look at Annie as she got undressed. He had imagined this moment so many times but he couldn't even enjoy it with the circumstances that he was facing.

Annie helped Jeff into the bathtub and she followed in after him. She couldn't think of anything that could help her best friend in this situation. There was nothing that she could say or do that would make him feel any better. Annie took the washcloth that was on the side of her tub and dipped it into the water in order to drip the water down his back. She continued to gently wash his skin for a few minutes. She slowly put her hand on his chest, dripping the water down his stomach and he pulled her hand to his heart, holding his hand over hers. He raised his head to look at her and she stared into his eyes. Jeff took his other hand and put it under her chin, pulling her closer to him. Annie's heart seemed to be beating out of her chest, in the same rhythm as Jeff's, as their faces got closer and closer. Jeff closed the gap to Annie's face and their lips finally touched.

In that moment Annie felt as though she had everything that she could possibly want. With all of the bad that had occurred some good came out of it. Annie deepened the kiss as she moved her body closer to Jeff's. Their chests' were touching as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head closer to hers. Jeff put one hand under her butt to hold her up to him while using his other to wrap her legs around his waist. He felt like he couldn't get close enough to her. Everything that he ever wanted was right in front of him. He had told himself for so many years that Annie was just his best friend but ever since they had kissed on screen he knew exactly what he wanted. They molded together so well at that moment, like two puzzle pieces that had finally found their way to each other.

Jeff and Annie were only separated by very thin layers of fabric that seemed to just be getting in the way. Jeff started to towards the bottom of her shirt and started to raise it up and Annie only deepened their kiss, trying desperately to get closer to him. Annie's shirt ended up on the floor with the rest of their clothes as their bare chests connected. Annie felt like she wanted to jump up and scream for joy but she couldn't tear herself away from Jeff. She had realized more and more through the day that Jeff was who she was meant to be with, as if she didn't already know.

Jeff began to put his hands on Annie's hip, putting his fingertips just underneath the fabric of her underwear. He hesitated and pulled away from her for a moment. She looked him in the eyes, bit lip and innocently nodded her head before connecting with his lips again, with more passion then there had been before. Neither of them could get enough of the other.

"You guys okay," Matt called from Annie's room.

They immediately stopped what they were doing and tried not to laugh. "We're fine," Annie yelled. "You can just go home and I'll call you in the morning."

"Are you sure," Matt asked.

"Definitely," Annie stated before chuckling lightly. She was sitting completely naked with her legs wrapped around Jeff, who only had a pair of thin, wet boxers on that didn't do much to hide what was underneath.

Annie and Jeff waited until they heard the downstairs door close and they both started laughing. They laughed for a few moments but then went completely silent again at almost the exact same time.

"Are you sure about this," Jeff asked sweetly while kissing her neck and stopping at her ear, nibbling softly on it.

"I've never been more sure about anything in my life," she moaned. "Are you okay with this?"

"You're the one that I'm meant to be with," he stated sincerely.

"We should move to my bed," Annie said quietly.

Jeff stood up in the bathtub with Annie's legs still wrapped around his waist holding her up by her bare ass. He grabbed a towel before carrying her to her bed. Jeff put her down and hovered over her naked body. Jeff never had permission to look at her naked before and he marveled at her beauty. If it was possible she looked more beautiful every day.

Jeff woke up a few hours later and smiled when he saw Annie sleeping quietly in his arms. When everything happened the day before he felt like she was the one person that he needed. Annie was the one person that could comfort him. When Danielle showed up he hugged her but it just wasn't the same as Annie. He knew that it was probably hurting Danielle but he needed Annie. As the day went on he began to realize that Annie was the one that he was meant to be with and that she felt the same way about him. He realized that he needed Annie in his life in order to survive but he didn't feel the same way about Danielle.

Annie was one of the sweetest people he knew and she reminded him of his mom. When he couldn't even manage to get undressed to take a bath she did it for him. She took care of him more than Danielle did. When he had decided to kiss her he was surprised that she kissed him back. He wasn't expecting anything, none-the-less where it led. He didn't know what he was missing all of those years. Nobody else could compare to Annie and it had only taken him this long to figure it out. He kissed her forehead softly and held her tighter as he drifted back to sleep.

When Annie woke up the next morning she and Jeff were lying naked together in her bed. She was snuggled up to his bare chest and she smiled to herself. The night before had been better than she had ever imagined. She and Jeff had 20 years of pent up sexual frustration with each other to get out and it had been well worth the wait.

She tried not to move because she didn't want to disturb Jeff. Everything that had happened yesterday ran through her mind. From seeing the smoke, to Jeff's expression when he saw it, to how innocently their bath had started out to the passion of the first time they had sex. She seemed to be in a state of euphoria and she couldn't stop smiling. She wasn't sure what this meant for her and Jeff but they had done something that she always wanted to do.

Annie lied comfortably in Jeff's arms for another hour before Jeff started to stir. Annie looked up at him as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked down at her and smiled and he could see her eyes instantly light up.

"Morning beautiful," he stated quietly.

"Morning," she replied stretching up to give him a soft kiss.

"That was…," he paused. "Amazing."

"I have to agree," she said shyly. "Are you hungry?"

"I could eat."

"Do you want to stay in bed while I cook?"

"Are you cooking like this," he asked suggestively with a smile on his face.

"You don't get the naked cooking until at least the third date."

"So you want this," he questioned. "All of it? The dating? The living together?"

"If that's your way of asking me to date you, you really need to work on your skills."

"Come on Annie, I'm trying to serious here. Was this a onetime only thing or are we going to try dating? I want to be with you and only you. I realize that you are who I am meant to be with. Last night I realized that you are the one that I can't live without." Jeff took a deep breath and looked down at Annie. "How was that? Better?"

"Much," she chuckled. "I would love nothing more than to date you Jeff Hardy."

"Really," he questioned surprised.

"One I'm not really the kind of person that would have sex with my best friend just because and two, I've just been waiting for you to finally figure it out."

"How long have you known?"

"Probably since I was 16, at least in the back of my mind but I kept telling myself that it wasn't true. I didn't really start to admit it to myself until November or so when you told me about Dani."

"And you kept your mouth shut?"

"Of course I did. Jeff you're my best friend and you seemed happy with her so I wasn't going to mess with that."

"Oh God," Jeff screeched. "I forgot about Danielle."

"We talked last night," Annie admitted shamefully. "She wanted me to end things with you for her. She told me that she couldn't deal with being your number two and that I could have you."

"She seriously said that," Jeff asked surprised and Annie nodded. "You would think that she would have the decency to break up with me in person."

"It was hard for her," Annie defended. "Imagine what she's had to deal with between us. She apologized to me for keeping you away. She was genuinely upset."

"Why didn't you tell me all of this last night?"

"I figured that you had been through enough and I didn't want to add anymore to your plate."

"I appreciate that."

"Come on," she said patting his stomach gently. "Let's get some food in you."

Annie went to get up but Jeff pulled her back down. "Not so fast." He kissed her softly and she responded by getting on top of him. "I could defiantly get used to this."

"Me too," she giggled. She kissed him with a smile on her face. "But I really need to eat before we do anything else."

"Alright," he said defeated letting go of her hips. "At least don't put clothes on."

"We need a few dates first, I told you," she said jumping off her bed and going towards her closet. She looked in the mirror in her closet. "Jeff could you change this bandage for me," she asked looking down at her tattoo. "I don't think I was supposed to take a bath."

Jeff got out of bed and walked over to her. She put her arm above her head and Jeff gently took the bandage off. He tilted his head to look at it closer to make sure that it hadn't gotten infected. "It actually looks pretty good, come on." Jeff held her hand as he dragged her to the bathroom in the hallway.

"Where are we going?"

"I left some of my tattoo lotion here, we kind of left in a hurry yesterday and didn't have a chance to grab you any."

He opened the cabinet up and grabbed his lotion. He washed his hands with soap and water before putting the lotion on his hand and rubbing it into Annie's side lightly. She winced a little bit when he hit certain places but it was beginning to feel a little bit better. He finished with the lotion and smiled at her.

"You don't have to keep it covered anymore. Just don't wear a bra and you should be fine."

"I see it now, this was all part of you master plan," she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "First you make me get a tattoo in the one place that I can't wear a bra and then you get to keep me home from work just to look at me all day."

"Yeah what can I say, I'm just an evil mastermind." Jeff followed Annie back into her room as she went back to her closet. "Come on, don't get dressed."

"I told you no. What if someone randomly shows up?"

"Please," he begged.

"No," she said sternly. "You know how our friends are."

"Fine," he grunted.

"However I can put on as little clothes as possible if you do the same."

Jeff smiled as Annie put on a pair of short shorts and a tank top before going downstairs to make them breakfast. She didn't want to mention anything about his house to him because he seemed to be doing okay at that moment. Jeff walked over and put his arms around her stomach. "Good morning beautiful," he said as he kissed her neck.

"Morning sexy," she replied with a smile. "I really could get used to this."

"Yeah except for the fact that you need to go to work soon."

"Actually I don't have to, not for at least a week, maybe two."

"How did you manage that," he questioned.

"I called Vince last night to ask him if I could. When I explained what happened he was more than willing to help. He's sending a camera crew here sometime this week so I can do some promos until I'm ready to come back."

"He's okay with helping me," Jeff asked surprised. "I figured that he wouldn't care."

"He cares more than most bosses would which is why he's allowing it and why he called you when you got suspended. He doesn't want you doing something that you shouldn't be doing and neither do I."

"I know and I'm sorry again for that. I know it puts you in a bad spot at work."

"I'm more worried about you as a person than I am about the strain that it puts me in at work. I'll have a lot of fun with it, don't worry about it. But what do you want to do today? We could go shopping, get you some new stuff, we could stay in?"

"I guess that we could go out for a little while but I just want to spend the day alone with you. Lock the doors, turn our phones off and just be together."

"Seems perfect to me."

Annie finished cooking and afterwards she and Jeff were finished they got dressed to go out shopping for a few hours. Annie and Jeff were gleaming as they walked around the mall holding hands. It seemed like such an insignificant thing but to them it was the world.

"So what are we telling people," Jeff asked as they ate their dinner later that night.

"It's up to you. We can tell everyone or we can let them figure it out on their own. I don't want to make a big deal out of it though."

"I don't either but I know that they'll make it that way anyways. I guess we could let people figure it out but I think we should tell Matt, AJ and our parents. If they figure out we were keeping this from them they'd get angry."

"Yeah keeping a relationship a secret never works out well does it Jeff," she insinuated.

"Funny funny har har."

"I thought it was pretty good," she giggled. "I need to go to my mom's house though. She's holding a family meeting soon so if you want to tell her then my dad and AJ will be there too so we can just get it out of the way."

"It's not too soon," he questioned.

"Well I don't see this not working out and she's been waiting a long time for this, trust me, she will be more than happy to hear about us."

Annie and Jeff finished eating before they headed over to Elizabeth's house. Liz had called for their family meeting over a week ago but this was the only time that they could all get together. Annie and Jeff let go of each other's hand before they got out of Annie's Audi. Liz greeted them at the door before they could even knock.

"Jeff," she exclaimed. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay," he replied. "I'm trying not to think about it though, only makes it worse."

"Well come on in, do you guys need anything?"

"Water would be good," Annie told her. She walked into the living room and gave her dad a hug. "Sorry we're late, we were finishing dinner."

"No worries," Ted responded giving Annie a hug. "You look good."

"Thanks daddy."

"You seem happier."

"I am. It seems like everything is starting to work out."

"Jeff I'm so sorry to hear about your house. I can only imagine how hard it's got to be."

"I'm handling it," Jeff responded. "Having Annie around is helping a lot. I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for her." Annie looked over at him thoughtfully as they sat down on the couch across from AJ. Liz walked in with a glass of water and handed it to Annie.

"Thanks mom."

"You're welcome. So is there anything new going on?"

"Actually," Annie hesitated. "I'm definitely taking the next few weeks off which is a good thing because I get to spend more time with Jeff."

"Which works out well," Jeff continued. "Because I asked Annie to be my girlfriend this morning."

"Oh my God," Liz screeched as she ran towards them, wrapping her arms around the both of them. "I'm so happy for you guys, it's about damn time."

"Congrats," Ted said coming up behind Liz and giving them a hug. "You guys finally figured it out."

"If you hurt my sister," AJ chimed in. "I'm going to have to hurt you."

"I won't AJ, I promise," Jeff said sincerely.

"Okay enough about us," Annie stated. "Why did you want us here mom? Is everything okay?"

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean," she asked concerned.

"I really didn't want to tell you guys this, especially with everything else that has happened this week."

"Spit it out mom," AJ said impatiently.

"Well a few months ago I went to the doctor and got some tests done. I was, umm, diagnosed with, umm….breast cancer," Liz spit out. "I've been trying to keep it a secret."

"Mom," Annie choked out as tears streamed down her face. "Why did you not want to tell us? This is a huge deal."

"Both of you have so much to worry about already and I was thinking about waiting even longer because of what happened yesterday."

"Mom," AJ choked out while walking over and giving her a hug. "How bad is it?"

"I'm starting chemo soon and I'll start losing my hair so I knew I couldn't keep it from you guys much longer. Your father is going to move back in here to help me and to help with the bills so that I can take some time off from work."

"Is it serious," Annie whispered, still frozen in her seat, still not believing that this could be happening.

"Well any cancer is serious but the doctor has high hopes that I'll be okay."

"But there's a chance that…"

"Yes."

Liz walked over to her daughter, who was drenched in her own tears. Annie didn't think it was possible to cry after all of the crying that she had done the day before. Liz wrapped her arms around Annie and Jeff, who was also tearing up. Jeff looked at Liz like another mom. She had been there for Jeff through everything and her house was the place that he could always escape to if his dad was being too rough on him. He couldn't believe that she had cancer because it just brought back all the memories of his mom having cancer.

Annie pushed away Jeff and her mom before walking out the door with everybody yelling her name behind her, all of them asking where she was going. She ignored them all as she got into her Audi and drove away. She didn't know exactly where she was driving to but she had to get away from it all. How much more could she deal with in the matter of a week? So much had happened and she thought that she would finally be happy because she and Jeff had figured everything out. Life just seemed to never slow down for her, it was one thing after the other, and she didn't know how much more she could deal with before she completely lost it.

Annie didn't know how long she drove for or exactly where she was but she found herself sitting alone at a bar with a Jack and Coke in front of her, her family's drink of choice. She never cared for it much but it always got the job done and got it done fast. She stared at it for a long time, playing with the rim of the glass. She took out her cell phone and noticed that she had eight missed calls. How had she not noticed it going off? Why did nobody at the bar tell her that it was going off? She was probably scaring everybody in the bar. She put her phone down next to her drink and a name popped up on her screen that she was not expecting.


	17. Uncertain Future

**Uncertain Future**

Annie sat at the bar with her Jack and Coke in front of her pondering what she was going to do. How much more shit could get piled on her in the matter of a week? Trying to quit drinking seemed less and less likely as she sat at the bar. She needed something to make her feel better or at least make her feel numb to everything that was going on in her life. Her phone rang and she was expecting it to be Jeff or her mom, her dad or her brother but it was Shawn.

"Hey Pops," she answered. Her voice was hoarse and raspy, like she had been crying for too long. She didn't realize how horrible she sounded until she spoke.

"How you doing pretty girl?"

"I'm doing okay I guess. I won't be seeing you for a few weeks though."

"Why?"

"I'm taking some time off to help Jeff," she told him. At least she was already taking the time off so she wouldn't need to explain to Vince why she wouldn't be able to perform to the best of her abilities.

"I heard about that. How is he doing?"

"He's getting by but I feel like I need to be there for him during all of this. It's just been such a hard week for the both of us."

"What's wrong," he questioned. "I can tell by the sound of your voice that you've been crying."

"Nothing's wrong," she lied.

"Then why have four different people called me asking me if I've heard from you? Are you okay?"

"My mom has cancer," she choked out before the tears started to fall again. It was a good thing that there were only a few people in the bar so she didn't make an ass of herself in front of too many people. "Between Jeff getting suspended, his house burning down and now this, I don't know how much more I can deal with."

"I'm so sorry you're going through all of this Annie but your mom is going to be okay. Everything with Jeff will work itself out too. You just have to realize that maybe all of this bad is happening so that some type of good can come out of it."

"I know Pops, but it's too much. I don't know what I would do if I lost my mom."

"Don't think like that, please. It's not going to help things any."

"I know it's not going to help but that's where my head automatically goes."

"I just want to make sure that you're not going to do anything stupid."

"I'm not," she lied.

"You better not be where I think you are."

"I was just driving and this is where I ended up. I don't know how long I drove for and this is just where I stopped and couldn't go any further."

"Annie please, please think about what you're doing," Shawn pleaded. "If you think this is hard on you, what about your mom? Do you really think she could live with herself if she was the reason that you relapse?"

"It's not only her though. It's a lot of things."

"But she'll see it that way Annie. She probably told you now because she absolutely had to. She probably didn't want to add to your problems but she had to get it out. I know that a lot has happened but think about the people around you. Your mom is scared to death about you right now and she's fighting for her life. Jeff can't deal with losing somebody else. Could you imagine how he would feel if something were to happen to you, on top of everything else that he's been through this week? Annie it would completely destroy him."

Annie didn't say anything as she cried alone at the bar. She felt horrible for everything. Her family was going through so much and so was her boyfriend. She couldn't help but think about him. It dawned on her then that will all the tragedy and the loss a lot of good had come out of the week. Annie and Jeff finally got together, the one thing that she had wanted more than anything, and it felt like it kind of got swept under the rug with everything else that was going on. She didn't want him to feel like she was abandoning him or that she didn't want his help. If she couldn't walk away for herself then she could do it for him and her mom.

"Thanks Pops," she whispered sounding a little relieved. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Are you going to be okay to drive home? Do I need to call someone for you?"

"Don't worry I haven't even had a sip." She could hear Shawn breathe a sigh of relief. "I love you Pops."

"Love you too pretty girl."

Annie hung up the phone and put her head in her hands. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and make the crying stop. After a few minutes she called the bartended over to take her full drink away. He nodded and smiled at her before she left a tip on the bar and walked out. She didn't know if she would have drank if Shawn hadn't called her but it was a little too close to call. She turned her radio on loudly before she pulled out of the parking lot.

"How far did I go," she asked herself after she was on the road for more than a half hour. All she wanted was to be at home in bed with Jeff. There was nothing else in the world that she wanted more, except for her mom to be healthy. She could still hear her phone going off but she didn't want to answer it yet. Talking to Pops was one thing but she wouldn't be able to keep it together long enough to talk to someone else.

Before long she pulled down the road that led her straight to her house. She wanted to drive faster but half of her driveway wasn't paved and she didn't want to ruin her car. Once she did hit pavement she sped up. She had a feeling that at least Jeff would be there, if not everybody else.

Annie had barely come into the view of her house and Jeff was standing in the middle of the driveway with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked relieved and happy when he saw her. He couldn't wait for Annie to get out of the car so as soon as it was in park Jeff opened the door and pulled her out. He hugged her so tight that she couldn't breathe but she didn't care. She held on to him for dear life. He released her and put his hands on either side of her face.

"I'm so sorry," Annie cried and repeated over and over.

"It's okay," he said rubbing his across her cheek trying to wipe her tears away. He leaned in to kiss her and she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. She never wanted to let go of him until she heard someone clearing their throat.

"Mom," she yelled letting go of Jeff and giving her a hug. "I am so sorry Mom. I didn't mean to take off like that."

"It's okay baby girl, at least I know that you're safe." Liz squeezed her daughter tightly. "I should have waited longer to tell you. I knew that you two were having a hard week and I shouldn't have added to it."

"I wish that you would have told me sooner, like when you first found out. I could take off more time from work if you need me to."

"That's the last thing that I want Annie, its part of the reason why I waited so long to tell you. Your father is moving in, like I said, and we'll be fine. I'll be okay."

Annie hugged her again. What would it be like if she lost her mom? She didn't even want to imagine it. She had gone through losing somebody that was like a mother to her and that was bad enough but to have it be her own mom would be so much worse. When Liz released her Jeff came up and put his hand on Annie's lower back and she couldn't help but lean into him.

"I'm sorry that I ruined your big news," Liz told them.

"It's not a big deal," Annie assured her. "We just wanted to tell you guys because we knew that keeping it a secret wouldn't have been too good."

"I'm so happy for you guys," Liz told them pulling them into a hug. Annie hadn't realized how cold it was until the tears that were on her face started to freeze. She released her mom and Jeff to pull her car into the garage before the three of them went inside.

"When's your next appointment," Annie asked her mom as the three of them sat down with tea in the living room.

"Tuesday."

"Alright then I'll bring you."

"What about work? I don't want you taking time off because of me."

"I told you earlier that I was already taking time off to help Jeff so I don't mind bringing you. Don't ever be afraid to ask me to take time off either. I have done so much for this company and if I need time off then I need time off."

"I will probably never ask."

"Still I'll be here for you. I'm really sorry to both of you for taking off like that. It's not what either of you guys needed."

"I understand," Liz said as Jeff pulled Annie closer to him and Liz couldn't help but smile. "You needed time to yourself and we all understood that but we didn't want you to do anything stupid."

"Like ending up at a bar," Annie said. They both gave her a look. "I ended up at a bar but I didn't drink. I think the same drink sat in front of me for over an hour."

"But you didn't touch it," Liz asked.

"No I just thought about it."

"You have no idea how happy that makes me. I'm so proud of you Annie."

"Thanks mom but I really shouldn't have gone there to begin with."

"But the important thing is that you didn't drink and that's all that matters," Jeff said.

"I'm sorry again," Liz said getting up. "I should be getting home. It's way past my bedtime."

"Call me tomorrow," Annie told her. She hugged her mom tightly and apologized again before she watched her get in her car. Annie took a deep breath as her mom pulled away. Jeff came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder.

"I shouldn't have done that to you," she said quietly. "I feel so bad about making you worry, especially after everything."

"You're home now," he said kissing her neck softly. "And you're safe and sober, that's all I care about."

"I'm sorry Jeff, I really am. I know that you're going through so much, if not more than I am, and I don't want to add any more stress or drama to your life."

"It comes with the territory of being your boyfriend."

"That has a nice ring to it," Annie said with a smile. She turned around in Jeff's arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm so happy to be with you." He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.

"There is nothing that I want more than to be with you Annie. I realize now that you are the most important person in my life. I don't know what I would do without you in my life. If something were to happen to you I don't know where I would be."

"Jeff I'm not going anywhere and I promise that I will never make you worry like that again." She hugged him tightly and never wanted to let go. She felt safe and content in his arms, even after everything that had happened that week. She tried not to think about anything that was going on in their lives as they went to sleep that night. It was nice to just lie in each other's arms and not have to worry about it being wrong.

"The camera crew will be here soon," Annie yelled down to Jeff the next day while she was in the bathroom trying to get her hair to corporate with her. She could never get her hair to look like the way that Megan did it but she knew that she couldn't have her fly down to North Carolina just to do her hair for a few promos. Vince was sending a camera crew down to do three promos. Vince was giving her three weeks off to spend at home, which he wasn't going to give her originally but when she told him about her mom he was more than happy to give her time off. He knew how hard of time Annie was having and he didn't want her being distracted and ending up getting hurt in the ring. Annie shrugged her shoulders as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair wasn't going to get any better.

She walked downstairs with her suitcase in hand that had her two other outfits in it. As much as she appreciated Vince's understanding of her situation she always hated cutting promos. She was never great at it and they hadn't improved much over the years. She wandered around her house, tiding up to make sure that it looked good for when the camera crew arrived. They first set up in the living room while Annie paced nervously in her kitchen. Jeff leaned against her sink wearing just a pair of sweatpants and watched her.

"You'll be fine," he told her. "It's not live so if you mess up you can just re-do it and it will be fine."

"I'm not really worried about that."

"Then what is it," he asked grabbing her waist as she walked passed him.

"I just don't think I'll be good as a heel. Is it even worth it for me to put all this effort into a character that won't even be around for that long?"

"Annie don't worry about the future, just worry about now," he told her pulling her closer to his body. "We will worry about our characters when I come back but for now just be a bitch," he chuckled while kissing her forehead.

"I just wish you could at least sit with me."

"I do too but I'm suspended so I can't do anything."

Annie hugged him and took a deep breath. "You really need to put a shirt on."

"And why is that?"

"Because you're too damn sexy," she said before kissing him and pulling away.

"We're ready for you," John, the camera man, called out to her. Jeff gave her a reassuring smile before she walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "Whenever you're ready."

Annie took a deep breath in and fixed her hair as Jeff walked in and leaned against the wall next to John. "Just relax," Jeff told her. She smiled at him and then focused her attention to the camera.

"As you have probably already heard Jeff has been suspended for violating the wellness policy. I'm supposed to come on here and say all of this crap about how I'm home trying to support him but the truth is that you fans don't deserve to have me grace you with my presence. You fans," she said using air quotes. "Are the reason that Jeff violated the wellness policy. It's all of your constant neediness, you constant badgering of us that led him down this path. He needed to get some type of peace and quiet and I blame you."

She paused for a moment before continuing. "You fans are the reason that I'm home. Not only do you not deserve to have me in your presence but I refused to come back until I get what I want. I'm not asking for too much. All I want is the Woman's Championship. Poor little Kelly Kelly," she said sadistically. "I'm sick of this little Barbie doll, no talent, blonde bimbo bringing shame to the title that I've spent ten years trying to make creditable. You may think that I'm just going out of my mind or whatever but don't you realize that people change. This is my second coming and it's not going to be pretty. I'd rather have my sanity then the fame or the appreciation of you fans who do nothing every week except for pester Jeff and I. You want to know who I really am. This is me now and I'm coming for my retribution."

Annie took a deep breath in and looked up at the ceiling. "Wow I feel like a prick," she said under her breath. "How was that," she questioned everybody in the room. Jeff clapped his hands together with a smile on his face and John nodded his head.

"I think that will be good enough for this location. Did you have anywhere else in mind?"

"I guess we could set up outside. It may be a little chilly out but there's a lake behind my property and it might give me more of a chance to walk around and maybe play off of things."

"Okay why don't you get changed and I'll go outside and set up."

Annie nodded as he grabbed his equipment and made his way outside. She went into the bathroom in her hallway and Jeff followed behind her with her clothes. She put her hands down on the counter and looked down. When she looked up and saw herself in the mirror she took a deep breath.

"Are you okay," Jeff asked putting his hand on her back. "You did great."

"I hate shit talking people."

"Then why did you suggest this storyline? You knew that this was going to be part of it. It's the only way to get over on the fans."

"I really only did it because of what I have in mind for Wrestlemania."

"You haven't told me any idea that you have for Wrestlemania. What are you thinking for it?"

"I'll tell you if this whole heel thing actually works. We may have a few malfunctions getting there."

"Whatever you want."

Annie changed and fixed her hair before she met John outside on the dock.

"So I talked to Vince and he likes the idea of the first promo. This one will be a little shorter because it will interrupt Kelly's match."

"Oh okay," Annie said as she positioned herself sitting on the railings of her dock. "You might want to start with a close up and then zoom out."

"Look at you getting all creative," he said with a smile. He put his hand up in the air.

"Kelly," Annie said sadistically. "Oh Kelly, woohoo, up her," she said waving her hand. She paused for a moment waiting for whoever her opponent would be to get the pin on her. Annie then started laughing. "Look at you down there. I'm disgusted by your weakness. You're always monkey see monkey do, like a little puppet on a string that the WWE can manipulate. You are what everybody thinks a diva should be. But you're nothing but a model that they put some little bitty tights on and throw into the ring. You think you have all the answer and you can do no wrong."

Annie jumped off of the edge of the dock and started to walk around the lake without missing a beat. "In your eyes you think that you're the best, the champion, the victor but in my eyes you've all but failed. You do what you are told, you don't do what you want. You should look up to me. You should praise me. I am the best female athlete in the WWE and I get pushed aside by you because you're young and perky. But that will come to an end. I will be your opponent at the Royal Rumble and I'm telling you that you won't be a champion much longer. This is the second coming of Annie Williams and all the Divas better watch their backs because nobody is safe."

Annie looked at the camera with a sadistic smile on her face and then she broke a few seconds later into a smile. She might be able to get used to this. John grabbed the camera and they moved back into the house and down into her basement. This would be her last promo. She would do this promo for the Raw before the Royal Rumble and it was going to play before she made her appearance of the night. They went down into her basement and she sat on her poker table in front of her wall full of pictures.

"Matt should be here soon," Annie told Jeff a few hours later, putting on a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

"Why are you putting on more clothes," Jeff questioned. "There's nothing wrong with you wearing my shirt and some panties."

"I don't want him thinking that there is anything going on between us."

"Even though there is and we're telling him about it when he gets here."

"It still feels weird now if I'm wearing next to nothing."

"Why is it weird? We all grew up together, we've all seen each other naked and I'm having sex with you so why should it matter?"

"I don't know," she said sitting next to him on the bed. "I just think that people will know that we are sleeping together and we don't really need to flaunt it to the world."

"Annie you're being ridiculous," he said to her. "You are in your own house and if you want to walk around in panties and my shirt then you should. Not to mention that it's extremely sexy." Annie blushed slightly before Jeff pulled her into a hug. Matt yelled up the stairs a few moments later. Jeff leaned down and kissed her before they made their way downstairs.

"So what's so important that I needed to be here before I leave?"

"Well aren't you a little impatient today," Jeff asked.

"A little bit but my flight leaves in a few hours."

"We didn't want to tell you this over the phone or to hear it from somebody else."

"We have something that we need to tell you," Annie continued. "Jeff and I have decided to start dating," she said with a smile. Matt stood in a shock for a moment.

"Are you serious," he questioned calmly.

"Yeah," Jeff responded. "I realized that Annie is the one that I'm meant to be with and thankfully she feels the same way."

A very pronounced smile grew on Matt's face as he pulled the two into a hug. "Finally," he exclaimed once he pulled away. "When did all of this happen?"

"Well," Annie started with a blush creeping across her cheeks. "You kind of interrupted us figuring it out the other night." Jeff chuckled while Matt tried to put the pieces together. When he did there was no way that he could be disturbed by the fact that he had interrupted them having sex. Jeff and Annie had finally figured it out. The fact that it had taken them so long only made it that much better.

"I'm so happy for you guys," he said as he put his hand on Jeff's shoulder while Jeff put his arm around Annie's waist and pulled her close to him. "Wait here," Matt said suddenly before running out to his car. "I want you guys to have this," he said handing them the photo album.

"What is it," Annie asked taking it from his outstretched hand.

"Well Amy had a great idea about six years ago to keep a photo album of you two for when you finally figured it all out. So I made copies of pictures from when you guys were younger and there's a bunch of other pictures in there. We thought it would be great to show you two that you belong together."

Annie stood dumbfounded for a moment before she opened the front cover and the first picture was of their first kiss in the ring and after that was a picture of them on the swings when they were maybe seven years old. How had everyone in their lives known that they had been meant for each other for so long and it had taken them forever to figure it out? "Thank you Matt," she said quietly with a little bit of a lump forming in her throat.

"You're welcome," he stated giving them both a hug. "I'm just happy that you figured it out on your own and I didn't need to give it to you guys beforehand."

"It's great Matt, really," Jeff told him. "I thought that most of these pictures were lost in the fire. Thanks so much for doing this."

"You're welcome but I really do need to get going so I don't miss my flight."

Annie and Jeff both gave Matt a hug before he left for the airport. They smiled at each other before they went over to the couch and snuggled up to look at the very large photo album that Matt had given them. They both realized how many pictures there were of them and the photo album didn't even contain all of them. Most of the pictures didn't even include them in the ring together, although there were a few. Annie wished that she would have told Jeff sooner about the feelings that she had for him. They had wasted a very large part of their lives lying to themselves when they could have been together instead.

Matt felt lonely as he boarded the plane by himself. He couldn't remember the last time that he had gone to a show without Annie or Jeff. It was very strange for him to be alone. He was happy for them though and they deserved to be happy after everything that they were going through. Vince was being nice enough to give Annie some time off so that she could be there for Jeff.

When Matt got to the arena on Monday afternoon he was called into Vince's office where Crystal was already waiting. He took a seat next to her with a puzzled look on his face.

"Okay," Vince started. "I first off just want to let you guys know that you aren't in trouble." He paused before he continued. "As you both are aware Jeff has been suspended for sixty days, which messes with a lot of the plans that we had for the two of you. Matt you were supposed to continue with him until Wrestlemania and Crystal, you and Annie were also supposed to continue. However since Jeff is gone, Annie will be going in a different direction."

"So who am I going to be competing against," Crystal asked.

"Well we have a new diva Madison who was originally supposed to be involved with Annie but instead she will be with you. She will pretty much follow you around like a little puppy dog and believe everything that you tell her. She'll be a manager of sorts."

"Alright," Crystal agreed with hesitation.

"It's the best that we could do under the circumstances and Madison will play a huge role in a month or so but for now she needs help. She is an amazing girl but very young. Your character will play off her vulnerability."

"What was Annie originally going to do with her?"

"Pretty much the same thing, just in a nicer way but with Annie turning heel right now we can't add anymore players to that storyline."

"And was Sunday the last time that I'll face her?"

"No, not at all. We have a plan for you two to continue a feud again once Jeff returns but until then you will be on Raw and she'll be on Smackdown." Crystal nodded her head in understanding. "Madison should be here any minute so you guys can all get to know each other."

"Thanks Vince," Crystal said trying to sound genuine.

Crystal was a little hurt when she found out she was only getting Annie's leftovers. Annie was Crystal's idol but she was also a co-worker and a competitor. She knew when she got into the business that she wasn't always going to be the best or the most liked but it was still disappointing that she couldn't get her own storylines. It was always about Annie. Annie was such a good friend to her but that was outside of work. Crystal just wanted something to be completely made for her. It wasn't that she was bitter or that she didn't appreciate everything that she was getting but the competition that she had with Annie seemed to grow more and more in her head every day. At least she could be the top diva for a few weeks until Annie got back.

"Now Matt," Vince said after he was finished talking to Crystal. "We are going to take you out of ECW. We don't think that it's the best fit for you anymore. With that being said we're trying to figure out what we can do for you. WE all know that you've been here for a long time so in order to keep your feud with Jeff going you are going to talk about how he's had his shot at the WWE Championship and you haven't. You'll be going after the World Heavyweight Championship, which will put you in a feud with Christian. We know that you guys like working together so this will be a great opportunity for the both of you. It will put you guys in the Royal Rumble and will later bring on a feud involving John Cena and JBL."

"But neither of us will win," Matt questioned, even though he knew the answer.

"No but that's only because you're facing Jeff at Wrestlemania. You are one of the main event guys, which is why we are at least having you dance around the Championship. You will even have a few tag team victories over Cena, which will only boost your confidence that much more."

"But once Jeff gets back all of this will be forgotten?"

"Essentially yes," Vince stated. "It's not that we don't think you're championship material but the plan was always for you two to face each other at Wrestlemania. You guys are the ones that came to me back in October about this because it's one of the only things that you guys haven't been able to do. I'm only giving you what you originally wanted."

"I understand," Matt told him, even though he was visibly upset by it. "I really do appreciate you being so accommodating to us, especially after what Jeff has done."

"Jeff made a mistake and I understand that. I don't condone what he did but the fans love him no matter what he does. If it's a good idea then we run with it."

There was a timid knock on the door and after Vince told whoever it was to come in, the door opened slowly. Matt turned around and saw a beautiful young woman. She couldn't have been older than 25 but she was gorgeous. Her light brown hair seemed to make her green eyes pop and she had to have been close to six feet tall. She would have been a great model too because she seemed to be as thin as a rail.

"Oh Madison," Vince exclaimed getting up from his desk. "It's nice to see you again." He extended his hand and she shook it politely. "I would like to introduce you to Matt and Crystal, who you'll be working with for the time being."

"I'm Madison," she said softly, extending her hand to both of them. "It's nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," Matt said shaking her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too," Crystal responded. "So did you want to go somewhere and talk?" Madison nodded her head and the three of them left Vince's office.

Madison seemed very timid and quiet. Matt and Crystal weren't exactly used to quiet people considering how loud their friends were. Although Madison answered most of their questions, she still seemed to change the subject anytime it came to her family. She had said that she was from Michigan but wouldn't say exactly where and she never mentioned family or friends. Matt could tell that she was either lying or she was just embarrassed by them. She definitely had a secret that she didn't want anybody to know about.

Matt could tell that there was something different about her. She was very stand-off-ish, almost skid-ish and she seemed to only answer his questions. She did, however, discuss the storyline at length with Crystal. They didn't know her background, if she could actually wrestle or not, but it at least would keep them guessing for a while.


	18. Unexpected Events

**Unexpected Events**

It felt strange as Annie and Jeff snuggled up on the couch in her basement to watch Raw. It had been so long since they both had time off and were able to sit together and just watch the show. They paid more attention once Matt's music hit and he, Crystal and a new diva walked out to the ring.

"Who's that," Annie asked looking up at Jeff.

"I have no clue," he responded. "Matt didn't mention anything to me about a new girl."

"He looks like a pimp," Annie joked. "She's pretty," she said after a few moments. "I think I could probably break her in half though."

"She is kind of skinny."

"No Jeff, I'm kind of skinny. For me to sit here and say that a diva is skinny that's saying something because we are all relatively small females."

"I'm sure that it's just the camera angle or something," Jeff defended. "Even Crystal looks small."

"Still," Annie pondered. "I'm surprised I didn't hear about her."

"Well that could be because your phone is off."

"Not off," she told him. "On silent and on the counter upstairs. I have almost three weeks off and I'm going to enjoy myself and that means not concerning myself with work and spending as much time with you as possible before I go back."

"If we aren't concerning ourselves with work then why are we watching this," Jeff questioned her. Annie looked up at him but didn't say a word. She knew that anything she said now would make her sound even more like an idiot. "That's what I thought," he concluded turning off the TV.

"Hey I was watching that," Annie exclaimed.

"I'm sure we'll hear about it when Matt gets home."

"Probably."

"He also wanted me to ask you if you wanted to play poker on Thursday. If so he's going to have Crystal come down. She wants an excuse to see AJ again."

"I still find it weird that out of all the guys she likes my brother but to each their own I guess. She knows that she doesn't need an excuse to come here though."

"It's not only an excuse but we actually haven't had a poker game in a long time. The last time we played poker was when we were flying overseas."

"And how much are buy-ins going to be? Are we doing a tournament style?"

"I was just going to ask everyone what they feel comfortable with. We could do a $200 original buy-in tournament and once you're out, you're out. Or we could do $50 buy-ins and then you could buy back in until a certain time. You know that if we don't put a time limit on it then it lasts forever. Remember the first eight person game we did ended up lasting over 12 hours."

"I guess that we could do $50 buy-ins and limit the time or the amount of times you can buy in. Then if someone doesn't know how to play they won't end up losing too much."

"So Thursday it is then. We can tell everyone then."

"I guess that would be okay," Annie responded. "That's if Matt hasn't told everyone already."

"I'm sure that he's kept his mouth shut. He knows that we want to tell everyone personally. It's kind of big news."

"Yeah it's huge news that the two idiots finally figured it out."

They made their way upstairs and Annie checked her phone. Her mom had sent her a text asking her if she was still driving her to her doctor's appointment in the morning. Annie answered and told her that she would be at her house for 8.

"You okay," Jeff asked her.

"Yeah I'm fine," she lied. "I'm just really worried about her. I don't know what I would do if I lost her."

"I'm sure that everything will turn out fine baby. This is not the same situation as my mom was in. It's not terminal and a lot of advances in technology have been made. I'm sure that it will be okay."

"Jeff I love the fact that you are trying to make this okay but there is nothing okay about any of this. It's like its one thing after another and the quitting drinking is becoming harder and harder."

"And you have no idea how proud I am of you for not taking a drink. I just want you to look at the positives. They caught the cancer early, which is always good, and if my house hadn't burned down then we might not be together right now."

"But I feel bad because I feel bad. I know that may sound confusing but you've been going through as much, if not more than I have been, and you're trying to comfort me. Vince gave me time off to help you with your drug issues and I haven't even asked you how you're doing with it."

"You don't need to worry about that," Jeff reassured her. "I have no reason to do drugs now. I'm happy because of you. I finally have some type of peace within my mind. What happened to my house I believe happened for a reason, I don't know if that's why it happened or if it was karma but I'm at peace. I'm worried about your mom too but it brought your parents back together and it's probably sobering your dad up a little bit. From all of the bad that has happened to us in the last week a lot of good has come out of it. We may not like everything that has happened but it made us stronger. I bet that you didn't realize that you were that in control of your drinking until all of this happened."

"I guess I didn't look at it like that. I just don't understand how you are so optimistic about all of this. You should be the one completely destroyed."

"I'm choosing not to be destroyed by this. We choose our own fate. Like tomorrow you are choosing to be there and to be strong for your mom because that's what she needs from you right now."

"Just because I'm acting strong for her doesn't mean that I actually am."

"You're stronger than you give yourself credit for. We have been through a lot lately and you and I have found a way to be happy. Losing everything, losing Jack, is only going to make me strong in the long run."

"I'm sorry if I'm dampening your spirits."

"It's fine Annie really. You know that I am here for you no matter what."

"I know and I really appreciate it that but I have something to ask you and I don't want you to get mad."

"Okay what?"

"Well I know that you got Marble for me because you wanted me to have something to come home to. It's not that I don't love him but with how often we're gone I was wondering if you'd mind if I gave him to my mom when I got back to work. I figure that she takes care of him when I'm gone anyways and she's the one that needs comforting right now. Plus I have you now."

"That would be fine," Jeff told her. "I'm sure that she would love to have him around to keep her company, especially when your dad is at work."

"I appreciate it."

"I know but I gave him to you and if you think that he would be better for your mom then that's fine. I'm willing to do anything to help you guys right now."

Jeff kissed her forehead lightly. He knew that Annie was going through a lot and that he needed to be there for her no matter what. He smiled as he held her in the kitchen. He believed in everything that he said. He had a feeling that Liz was going to be just fine and that in order to get to the good in life you had to go through a lot of bad. Jeff also knew that he loved Annie more than anybody or anything in the world. It had devastated him beyond belief that he had lost his house but he found his true love in the process. It made most of the tragedy worth it in the end.

"Did you guys hear about the snow storm," Matt asked on Thursday as he put the pizzas down on the counter at Annie's house. "It's supposed to be really bad."

"When is it supposed to start," Jeff questioned grabbing a slice.

"In about an hour or so."

"What's a bad storm considered down here," Crystal asked as she sat down at the table next to AJ.

"We're supposed to get almost two feet," AJ told her. "Which is completely and utterly unheard of down here."

"Well I never know with you guys. If you get like 5 inches of snow down here the entire state ends up shutting down."

"That's not my choice," Annie defended. "I know how to drive in the snow."

"Yeah right," Jeff chuckled. "If you think that driving 10 mph in the snow is knowing how to drive in it then yeah, you're a master."

"I'm better than you," Annie retorted. "Mr. I think I can drive fast and then end up getting your car stuck in a snow bank. We had to sit and wait for three hours for the damn tow truck to get there and tow your car out."

"That wasn't my fault," he informed her. "Corvettes aren't meant for the snow. I didn't think that there would be a snow storm while we were at the show and when we got back to the airport I had no choice but to drive it home."

"Okay and driving 40 mph in 6 inches of snow had nothing to do with it?"

"No. It's supposed to be a sports car and everybody knows that sports cars aren't for the snow. If there is even a chance of a flurry your Audi goes in the garage and doesn't come out until spring time."

"Yes because I actually like to keep my car in good shape. I spent a lot of money on that car. I bought a pick-up truck for a reason."

"You guys bicker a lot don't you," Crystal questioned. "I feel like every time I'm down here and say anything that can remotely be construed as an argument you guys go off on each other."

"It's only because they're competitive," AJ told her. "One of them always has to outshine the other and neither of them is ever wrong."

"Yeah and it's amazing that they've managed to stay friends this long."

"They love each other," he told her. AJ knew that they loved each other and that they were in a relationship but they hadn't gotten around to telling everyone yet so he just kept his mouth shut. "I don't know how else to describe their relationship." As Jeff and Annie continued to argue over who was the better driver, completely forgetting why their conversation started in the first place, Crystal and AJ moved into the living room. "So how have you been," AJ asked her. "I haven't talked to you in a while."

"I've been alright. The holidays were a little stressful but they always seem to be that way. What about you?"

"Well work has been slow because of the holidays but I've come to expect that from the past few years so I've been relaxing a lot and trying to spend a lot of time with my mom."

"It's nice of you to want to spend time with her."

"Ever since she told us that she has cancer I feel like I need to be there more. I never realized how much I loved my mom until this happened."

"Oh my God," Crystal exclaimed. "I didn't know she had cancer. Is she going to be okay?"

"I'm surprised that Annie didn't tell you about it. She has breast cancer and she just started going the chemo so hopefully everything will turn out okay."

"I'm sorry to hear about that. If there is anything that I can do to help just let me know."

"I really appreciate that. I just need to get a hobby or something in order to pass the time until work picks up again in February or March."

"You should come to a few shows then. I know that Annie would love to have you there and it would be nice to see you more."

"Yeah it would be nice. So, how's the new girl at work?"

"You were watching?"

"I need to have some way to see you."

"How sweet," Crystal said with a light laugh. "Well Madison is just really quiet. I don't know if it's because she's new or what."

"Maybe she's just intimidated by you."

"And why would that be?"

"You're absolutely beautiful to begin with and maybe she's still in the mindset of watching you on TV. I know what it's like to be the outsider and then talking to you guys can be a little intimidating. Like with Shawn, I still can't believe that he comes here and that Annie is his son's godmother."

"But you should be used to it."

"I am to an extent but it's still strange. Occasionally when I see Annie on TV it still surprises me but she'll always be my baby sister, no matter how old or famous she gets."

"Of course she will be." Crystal paused for a moment. "So Annie told me that you asked her for my phone number?"

"Yeah I did, a little while ago, but she told me that she doesn't give people's numbers out. I figured it was just her covering for you because you didn't want me to have it."

"No, that's not it," Crystal assured him. "I told her last week that it was okay for her to give it to you."

"I guess she must have forgotten then."

"Well here, give me your phone." AJ handed Crystal his phone and she called her phone from his. "There, now I have your number and you have mine."

"Thanks."

"No need to thank me," she told him. "I like hanging out with you. You make me laugh and I could always use more of that in my life."

"Well you're not so bad yourself. It just sucks that you live up North. Why don't you live down here?"

"I could if I really wanted to. I own my house up there but I'm never there and my family is there and some of my friends but when I do get time off I usually just stay home. You never know though, I could end up moving down here someday."

"It would be nice to see you more."

"Agreed," she said with a smile. Crystal literally felt like a teenage girl anytime that she was around AJ. She tried the best that she could to have a conversation with him when all she wanted to do was sit there and giggle at him. She had never been like that with any other guy before and maybe her brain was trying to tell her something. "Honestly though I have no idea how to play poker. They tried teaching me on the plane to go overseas and I just don't get it. I only really came so I could see you."

"Just sit next to me and I'll help you out. We'll play a practice hand first and we can print you out something that has all the poker hands on it so you have somewhat of a clue as to what's going on."

"Thanks AJ, I appreciate it."

"It's really just my excuse to get closer to you."

"You don't need to tell me all of your game," Crystal joked. "There won't be any surprises left."

"Alright so we should see how tonight goes before I ask you out on an official date then."

"Just ask me," Crystal chuckled.

"Fine so when are you so I can take you out on a date?"

"Next week would work for me. I could come here with Matt after the shows and Wednesday would work for me."

"Perfect," AJ replied. "It sucks that we have to wait."

"Yeah but at least it gives you ample time to plan our date."

"Right," AJ answered reluctantly. He hadn't dated much at all since his divorce and he had no clue what so ever. Crystal wasn't just a dinner and movie type of woman. Cameron didn't have much to offer in that department anyways.

"Don't be nervous," she told him grabbing his hand. "I'm just like every other girl, don't treat me any different."

"Just to warn you though, I'm not really a romantic guy."

"That's fine, really," she reassured him. "I don't expect any extravagant and I don't want it either. I may seem high maintenance but I'm really not."

"That's probably a good thing if you're coming here for a date. We don't have much to offer in the way of restaurants here."

"That's fine AJ, as long as I get to spend some time with you."

They both smiled at each other before they got interrupted by everyone going downstairs to play poker. Crystal took a nervous breath in before AJ grabbed her hand and they headed downstairs.

Matt didn't realize how alone he felt until they were all sitting around the poker table. It wasn't as bad before when Annie and Jeff weren't together because he knew that he wasn't the only single person there. Sure Crystal and AJ weren't technically together yet but they were flirting constantly. He really wasn't jealous per say just lonely.

Annie and Jeff finally told everyone that night that they were dating. They still had reservations about letting everybody know but they didn't find it right that some people in the room knew but not others. They both knew that they loved each other but they didn't want to jinx it by telling everyone. Annie knew that there were still two people that she needed to tell, probably the two people that would truly appreciate it besides her mother. Shawn and Becca had always been there for her and Becca had been the first person that she was able to talk to about her feelings for Jeff. She knew how excited they would be but she wanted to tell them in person because she wanted to see their reaction.

It was extremely cute how AJ was helping Crystal all night trying to teach her how to play poker. At first, for about an hour or so, they were playing cautiously so that Crystal could get the hang of it. However, once it reached the hour mark, it was time to pick up the pace a little bit.

A few hours later Shannon was up about $300 and was in on a pretty decent hand with Jeff when the power suddenly went off. Annie and Crystal screamed in unison before they started laughing.

"What happened," Julie asked.

"I don't know," Annie replied.

"Did you pay your bill," Matt asked.

"Of course I paid my bill." Annie used her cell phone as a light as she tried to navigate the stairs to go to her kitchen. "Holy shit," she yelled.

"What's wrong," Jeff yelled up to her. "Are you okay?"

"They weren't exaggerating," she said quietly. Jeff came up behind her, scaring her to death, as they looked out the windows of Annie's house. All of the cars in her driveway were buried in snow, almost 2 feet and it seemed like it was still coming down hard. "What do I do," Annie asked him quietly.

"I'm guessing we should call the electric company, try to find some candles. I've never been in this situation before."

"Neither have I," she said as she walked to her kitchen to look for candles. "Damn it," she yelled as she slammed the drawer.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Shawn fucking moved the candles and the flashlights. I swear that man is never allowed to clean my house again."

"Just call him and ask where he put them. I'm sure he was just trying to make your house more organized."

Annie tried to call Shawn but he wasn't answering. She continued to search and he ended up putting the candles in her office, the one room in her house that she rarely went into. It was pretty much a room to keep all of her paperwork in and nothing else. Annie was beginning to panic because she didn't know what to do. This was the first time that something like this had happened since she moved out on her own and she wasn't prepared for a power outage. Who would have thought that a snow storm could knock out the power?

"It figures that something like this would happen," she told Jeff as she started lighting the candles. "We have all of these people over, there's no power and we have no alcohol in the house."

"I'm sure that nobody minds that there is no alcohol," he reassured her. "They can go without drinking for the night. It would probably be best for everyone to stay here for the night and then we can figure out what to do in the morning. There's no way that we can go out and shovel everyone out in the dark with no lights."

"Were you able to get a hold of the electric company?"

"They said that a transformer blew and with the amount of snow it's going to be a little while before the electricity comes back on. They told us to sit tight until it comes back on."

"What's a little while? Matt, Crystal, Shannon and Julie need to get to work on Saturday."

"I'm sure that it won't take that long," Jeff said trying to soothe her. "Just get all of the blankets that you have and we'll hang out up here. The basement is going to get cold really quick."

"Alright, I'll go down and tell them."

Annie grabbed a candle before she headed back down to the basement. Once she had gotten to the bottom of the stairs, she mis-stepped slightly and rolled her ankle over. She somehow was able to catch herself on the railing without dropping the candle. Matt was next to her in an instant as she sat on the stair holding her ankle and trying to hold in her tears.

"Are you okay," he asked concerned as he squatted in front of her. "What happened?"

"I missed a step," she said through her teeth as she started rocking back and forth.

"Is it you ankle," he questioned looking at it. She nodded her head afraid to speak in case she did start to cry. "Let me see it." Matt took her hands off of her ankle and held it in-between his hands. "It's starting to swell." He looked at it carefully. "It doesn't look like it's broken though but you should still try to get to the hospital."

"That's not going to happen," she said as the tears started to fall. "There's like 2 feet of snow out there and no power. How do you expect us to get there?"

"We'll call an ambulance."

"They won't be able to get here either," she said. "Just help me get back upstairs. We've got candles up there and it's already getting cold down here. Jeff is grabbing blankets for everyone."

"Shannon can you grab the candle," Matt asked as he scooped her up in his arms. Shannon led them up the stairs as AJ, Crystal and Julie followed behind them. Matt brought her into the living room and put her foot up on the coffee table on top of a pillow. "I'll get you some ice."

"I don't have any but you could always just open the door and grab some snow," she chuckled lightly. Jeff came down the stairs with an arm full of blankets and walked over to Annie.

"Oh my God, are you okay," he asked concerned sitting down next to her.

"Yeah I'm just a klutz is all."

"What happened?"

"I wasn't paying attention and ended up missing a step."

"Is it broken?"

"I don't think so, it's just sprained probably."

"We really should try and get you to a hospital," he said putting the blanket over her.

"I'll be fine really. We'll go in the morning if it's still swollen."

"We could get out if you really need to."

"Jeff I love you for being so concerned about me but I promise that I will be okay. I just need to stay off of it for a week or two."

"Just in time for you to go back to work."

"I'll think about all of that when I need to go back but for now I'm just going to stay off of it."

Jeff and Annie told everyone what their plan was once Matt got back with a bag full of snow to put on Annie's ankle, which was pretty much the size of a baseball after an hour. It would have been a lot more entertaining if there had been alcohol but they made due without it. Their only form of entertainment was each other but they still managed to make a night out of it.

A few hours later Annie asked Jeff to carry her to her office so that she and Crystal could talk in private.

"What's going on," Crystal asked as she sat on Annie's desk after Jeff closed the door.

"I wanted to talk to you about work."

"What about it?"

"Well when Jeff got suspended Vince asked me if I had any ideas for a storyline."

"I know," she told Annie. "We had a talk on Monday."

"What did he tell you?"

"That we would be feuding until after Jeff got back but that once he did we would just continue where we left off."

"Well there is a little bit more to it than that."

"Okay what is it? You know that you can tell me anything and I'll keep it a secret."

"You have to promise not to tell anyone though. It's a big deal."

"I promise now what's going on?"

"I have a crazy idea in my head but I want to know if it's okay with you before I discuss it with anyone." Annie paused for a moment. "Since I'm turning heel I'm gaining a new attitude for having to be the best. My character is going to need to know that there is no diva better than her. Since you the Diva's Champion and I will be the Woman's Champion there's really no way of knowing that. So in order to figure it out I'm thinking that at Wrestlemania we'll have a unification match to determine who really is better."

"That's a great idea," Crystal said excited. "I like that there are two different championships for women to win but there isn't a way to know who is really better."

"That's not it," Annie interrupted. "When I think of the classic unification matches they are always done in a certain way and since it is going to happen at Wrestlemania I was wondering if you would be comfortable doing a ladder match?" Crystal stayed quiet for a minute trying to get the idea to sink in. "I just think that it hasn't been done in the WWE before and there is nobody better to do it with than us. We are both dating a Hardy so they will still be incorporated with it in some way and I feel like people would be really into it. I don't want to go through another Wrestlemania where the women's match is a complete joke. I haven't told Vince about it yet though because I wanted to talk to you first to see if you would even be willing to do something like that."

"I mean how much ladder match is going to be involved," Crystal asked. Annie could tell that she had some reservations with it.

"As much or as little as you want there to be," Annie told her. "We can practice and if you would prefer you can do most of the beating. I know that my career is a lot closer to being over than yours. We can get a lot of pointers from the guys and it can be really great. We could use other weapons too, chairs are always the easiest to use. I would say we could use tables but I don't think we weigh enough to actually break one."

"I guess that I would be willing to do it. I just don't want to get hurt."

"I don't either but we can convince Matt and Jeff to help us as soon as Vince okays the idea. Matt's almost done building a ring at his house in his garage so we can practice there for as long as we need to."

"And here I thought you wanted to talk to me about AJ. I probably would have preferred that."

"If you don't want to do the ladder match then we don't have to but I just thought that it would be a cool idea to bring something different to the women's division."

"Well I'm honored that you want to do it with me and honestly I wouldn't do if it was with anybody else."

"I want you to do it with me too. You're the only one that can challenge me enough to do this and we will see how it goes but I'm sure that Vince will be down for it." Crystal nodded in agreement. "Now help me back out there," Annie chuckled as she lifted herself from the chair. Crystal was right there to help her up as Annie put her arm around Crystal's shoulder, using her as a crutch as they hobbled back into the living room.

"Is everything okay," Jeff asked as Annie sat back down next to him.

"Yeah we just needed to talk about work," she told him.

"Anything exciting?"

"Nope. I have to talk to Vince first before we can start planning anything."

"This is the same idea that you've been thinking about for like a week isn't it?"

"Yes and I told you then what I'm telling you now and that's that I will tell you everything once it is figured out and approved by the office. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up."

"I don't even get a hint?"

"Not a one."

Annie sat with a smug look on her face as ideas about their ladder match floated through her head. Even if they didn't do the big spots like the guys did then they would still be able to make an impact and have the most memorable woman's match in history. She knew that it wasn't going to be easy to convince Vince that this was going to be a good idea but she had to at least try. She was willing to try anything and now that Crystal was on board with the idea there was nothing that was going to stop them, hopefully.


	19. Missing You

**Missing You**

"Are you sure that you're going to be okay," Annie asked as Jeff packed her bags for her.

"Of course I'm going to be okay," he told her. "I'm getting sick of having you around all the time anyways," he joked.

"No seriously, I can tell Vince that I'll just come back for the Rumble. I don't need to go to the office today."

"Seriously Annie I'll be okay. I love the fact that you want to be here for me but I'm going to be fine. I'll spend some time with dad and go shopping for new clothes. The question is are you going to be okay?"

"I'm going to be fine. The doctor cleared me to wrestle on Sunday but to take it easy when I'm not in the ring."

"So what's with the crutches," he asked folding a shirt to put it on top of her suitcase.

"It's just precautionary really. I'm trying not to put weight on it until I have to and even then I can't do my high flying moves."

"Then it's probably a good thing that we've been working on your submissions."

"Yeah I'm pretty sure that putting a submission on Kelly will be a lot easier than you. You're a lot bigger than she is."

"And are you ready for your meeting?"

"I guess so. I can't remember the last time that I had to actually go to the office."

"I'm sure it's not a bad thing. Vince probably wants one on one time with you. He hasn't been going to many of the live shows lately so he may just need to talk to you."

"I have to give him my new entrance music too and probably veto some of the ring attire. He knows how picky I am."

"Then don't be nervous. You're going to do great," he said zipping up her suitcase.

"Either way I'm going to the office then the taping of Smackdown then I'll be home. You probably won't even realize that I'm gone."

"I would like to do a little painting." Annie gave him an evil look. "I promise I won't do it in the house, I know how you are."

"Don't be silly," she told him. "You can do it in the garage," she smiled.

"Well thanks for that," he chuckled. "You know I really should have a room where I can paint and write."

"I don't know Jeff."

"Come on Annie. I know that this is your house and it's pretty much sacred ground to you but I honestly have no plans of building my own house. I want to live here, permanently, but I need somewhere I can be creative."

Annie thought about it for moment. She thought that it was a really nice gesture for Jeff to tell her that he wanted to live with her. Although he was already living there it was nice to hear that he didn't want to move out and that he wanted a place that he could call his own.

"Well there is room in the basement in one of the storage rooms that you can make into a studio if you want to. You can just move everything into the other room down there."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure Jeff. I want you to feel comfortable here and if that means that I have to give up one of my storage rooms that's fine. If there's not enough room in the other room then you can just put the totes in the garage. Just don't throw anything away."

"I wouldn't dare," he joked. "I'm going to put this in the car and then I'll come and get you to take you to the airport."

"You know that I don't mind taking myself."

"I know but this way I have an excuse to see you the second that you get home."

Jeff was back upstairs in no time to carry her down to her car.

"I can't believe that all of the snow is gone already," she commented as he started the car.

"It was pretty much gone the next day. It tends to happen when it's almost 50 degrees outside the day after a huge snow storm like that."

"I'm just happy that it didn't last too long. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if we went without power for any extended period of time. And don't get me wrong, I love my friends and all but I really wanted to be alone with you."

"Speaking of alone time did AJ talk to you about how his date went?"

"Yes and no. The only thing he told me was that it went really well and he's going to be flying up to Massachusetts in a week to spend some time with her."

"I really hope that they can make things work."

"Me too," Annie said genuinely. "He deserves to have someone good in his life after what his ex-wife did to him. She is really lucky that I haven't seen her since I found out what she did."

"I don't blame you and you're right. Crystal is just the person for him. They seem really great together but now we just have to find someone for Matt."

"We tried doing that already Jeff and it didn't work out."

"It's because he and Crystal are all wrong for each other and they make better friends then they ever would in a relationship."

"Do you really think that it's the best idea to be getting in the middle of his relationships?"

"It may not be the best idea but it's better than watching him be alone. I felt horrible the night that the power went out and he went to bed by himself. Granite Crystal and AJ fell asleep on the couch together but I could tell that he was feeling lonely that night."

"I want nothing more than for Matt to be happy and to have someone that he can come home to but I don't think that we should get in the middle of it Jeff. He needs to find someone that he wants to be with, not someone that we pick out for him. Plus who do we know anymore that's single?"

"I guess you're right but I still want my big brother to be happy."

"I know that you do and that's why I love you so much but sometimes it's better to leave it alone and let him figure it out on his own. It's not like he is harboring feelings for someone and can't just work up the courage to let her know."

"We'll see but if by this time next year he doesn't find someone then we are going to have to get in the middle of it."

"How about in 6 months," Annie suggested. "I don't think that I can watch him alone for another year. I know that what Amy did was completely messed up but is that really a reason to stop looking all together? I just feel like he isn't even making an attempt at dating."

"Neither were you."

"But my situation was completely different from his. I knew who I wanted to be with and I wasn't going to settle for anybody else."

"Well I'm glad that you knew," Jeff joked. "I had no clue."

"You can't be serious," Annie said flabbergasted. "You had no idea that you wanted to be with me?"

"It's not that I didn't have any idea that I wanted to be with you but I think that I spent so many years telling myself that you and I were just friends that I convinced myself that I wasn't in love with you. Who knew that Matt and Vince's idea to have us date on screen would make us figure out everything."

"I had a feeling that's why we were starting the storyline. Once we started dating on screen it seemed like the only thing that people wanted to talk to me about were the feelings that I had for you."

"Well it was really only Matt and Shawn that talked to me about it."

"Shawn talked to you about me?"

"Yeah he would just casually bring it up though, to see if I would slip up or something."

"I miss pops so much."

"Well maybe instead of coming home this week you could go to Texas instead and see Shawn and Becca and the kids."

"I don't want to leave you for that long."

"I could always fly out and meet you there. He still hasn't heard that we are together."

"You mean that Matt hasn't told the whole world by now?"

"Surprisingly no. I think that he wants us to tell people because it's our news to share. So did you want to do that?"

"You know how much I hate planes but I guess that I could fly to Texas and we could stay there until I go to the Rumble. I'll probably need to fly out late Saturday night or extremely early Sunday morning because I know that I'm not working any house shows, at least until my ankle is fully healed."

"Then I will see you on Tuesday in Texas then."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Should we surprise him or at least give him the heads up that we're coming?"

"Give him the heads up just to make sure that he doesn't already have plans."

Annie was beginning to get excited but that only meant that the next few days would take a lot longer since she had something to really look forward to.

"I can't believe that I have to fly alone," Annie complained to Jeff as he held her in the airport. "I can't remember the last time that I flew alone."

"You're going to be just fine," he reassured her. "We've been on planes thousands of times and nothing has ever happened. You're going to be just fine."

"But what am I going to do without you?"

"Annie you knew that you were going to have to go to work without me eventually. Before you know it I'll be in Texas with you and everything will be okay. Do you have all of the stuff for your meeting?"

"Yes but stop trying to distract me."

"You noticed that ha," he asked with a small laugh.

"You're kind of obvious."

"I hate to say this but you've got to go. You don't want to miss your flight."

"Part of me does. I could take some more time off and spend more time with you. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind the company."

"You can't do that and you know that. Two of your promos have already aired and you can't back out now. Just spend the flight going through your new music. Your IPod and folder are in your carry-on bag. Now I love you but you need to go. I'll see you early Wednesday morning."

"I love you too and thank you."

Annie hugged him tightly before giving him a kiss and heading off towards security. The process took a lot longer without Matt or Jeff to distract or entertain her, which only gave her more time to freak out. Flying for her was torturous. She tried to put her mind at ease or at least distracted, trying to figure out her new entrance music. For the most part she had a few songs in mind, most by the same artist and she was hoping that they would allow her to use their music. It had been a long time since she had been able to get new entrance music and she wanted to make sure that it was just right.

When the plane landed Annie was just happy to be on solid ground again. After she had been able to contact Jeff to let him know that she was okay, she got a call from Vince's secretary letting her know that there was a car waiting to bring her to the office.

The drive to the office didn't take very long and it was nice for her to be able to relax. She wasn't used to riding in the backseat of a car but she found it relaxing, especially after her flight. If she didn't like it at home so much then she probably would have driven to every show.

She sat nervously outside of Vince's office waiting for him to finish up with a phone call. She didn't mind waiting considering she had to get on a plane immediately following their meeting to go to Kentucky for Tuesday's taping of Smackdown. It would've been nice to spend more than a few hours on the ground but Vince was trying to accommodating to her with everything that was going on with Jeff and her mom. His secretary's phone rang and she told Annie to go ahead inside.

Annie took a deep breath in before grabbing her bags and going into his office. Since she wasn't staying in Connecticut very long she had to have all of her luggage with her. She looked homeless carrying around all of her possessions. She left her bags just inside the door and grabbed her folder.

"How was the flight," Vince asked as she took a seat.

"Torturous but when is it not for me?"

"For you it's always bad. How's your mom feeling?"

"Alright I guess. I hate having to leave her but she understands that I have to go out of town for my job."

"And Jeff?"

"He's acting like he's alright but I have a feeling he's hurting."

"Where's he been staying?"

"He's living with me permanently," she said with hidden meaning. She had yet to tell Vince that they were actually dating.

"Does that mean what I think it means," he asked hopefully. Annie nodded her head. "Since when?"

"New Years Day or Eve, I'm not quite sure."

"I'm so happy for you two, congratulations."

"It's not like we're getting married."

"I know but it's just as exciting, especially when it's you too. But now I feel bad."

"Why? You're not breaking us up are you? I thought that plan was to keep us together."

"It still is but when he comes back there is going to be a lot of tension between you guys."

"What's going to happen?"

"I have all of the paperwork for you that will go through the beginning of March. We weren't quite sure what to do after that because I need you to tell me about what you've been thinking about for Wrestlemania. I know that you wanted to talk to a few people before you brought it to me."

"I needed to talk to Crystal to make sure that she was willing to do it first and I want to know if you think it's a good idea. With my new attitude I'm all about how I'm the dominate female in the WWE and how I'm never going to give up. The only way to prove that is to have only one championship. So what I was thinking was that we could unify the Woman's and Diva's Championships at Wrestlemania in a ladder match."

"A ladder match," Vince questioned surprised.

"Just hear me out. Championships are usually unified in a ladder match and it's never been done in the WWE with two females. I figured that we are both dating a Hardy and it will keep their feud going as well. It's the only way to prove who the best really is."

"I definitely wasn't expecting you to come to me with a ladder match."

"That's why I want to do it, it's unexpected."

"Are you sure that you want to put your body through that punishment? There is a reason that women don't do ladder matches."

"I know that my career as a wrestler will be coming to an end soon, probably in the next few years, and I want to do a match like this. I've been here for 10 years, almost 11, and I want to have a match that will define my career, whether I win or not. Imagine if Crystal were to beat me and how much it would launch her career."

"But what if we have you win? Are you going to be willing to work more shows? I know that you're having a lot of family and personal issues right now but it comes with the territory of being a unified champion."

"If that's what you guys ultimately decide then so be it. I know that it will be more work but I'd be willing to do it."

"I will talk to a few people but Annie I do want you to think about this."

"And I have. I've been thinking about this for almost a month now and I think it's the best thing for me. Jeff will teach me some cool moves and how to land properly. I want the women to be represented in the same way as the men and I've been working towards that my entire career."

"I'm not going to guarantee you anything but I will talk to the board and the writers."

"That's all I'm asking for is a chance. If you ultimately decide that it's not in the best interest of everyone then that's fine. I was just trying to come up with an idea to keep my new character in some type of capacity."

"Speaking of that, have you decided on any choices for your new entrance music?"

"Well I've narrowed it down to 4 but 3 are by the same artist. I have a favorite though."

"And what bands are they?"

"The one that I really like is by Five Finger Death Punch and the other is by Sixx AM. They are both rock bands."

"And what is the song that you like the most? What is it about?"

She opened her folder and handed him the lyrics for her number one choice.

"The name of the song is 'Back for More.' It's a really upbeat rock song and it pretty much is about never giving up. I love that it pretty much describes my character like _The strong will survive, I've got no time for the weak, Ain't no room for second place, You've got break ground, show them all you won't be beaten. _It really does go with almost everything that my new character stands for and it will still work when I get back together with Jeff too. It's the one piece of the character that I'm keeping."

"And you're absolutely positive that this is the band and the song that you want to choose? This will most likely be your entrance music until you retire."

"More than anything. I will do a meet and greet with them, possibly appearances, really anything. This song just fits me so perfectly."

"I'll have to look into it, try and track down their label. They've shown interest in the WWE before so hopefully the offer is still there so we can possibly get something worked out for you."

"It would mean a lot to me. Here's a CD with the music and you have the lyrics. It's number one on it," she said handing him a burned CD. "I promise it's more upbeat then screaming. I want people to be able to understand what they are saying in the song."

"I'm sure that it will be fine. Now we need to talk about your ring attire. I know that you have specific ideas of what you like."

"I got a new tattoo a few weeks ago and I want to be able to show it off. So I was thinking of something like this," she said pulling out a piece of paper from her folder. "Jeff sketched it but it is pretty much what I want. The halter-top is in black with embroidered silver crystals and yoga type pants in black with a belt that matches my top and then when Jeff comes back I'll switch the pants to shorts."

"So pretty much what you have now?"

"Pretty much but I want only black and the top has to have thinner strings so that when it wraps around me it goes through the spacing in my tattoo. Jeff drew it here to give them a better idea and my measurements are in there too, in case they don't have them already."

"You were very well prepared for this meeting."

"Jeff helped me out a lot. I wouldn't have been able to explain the ring attire without his sketches."

"It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. We didn't argue at all and you probably didn't even need to come up here. We could have done this over the phone and through e-mails and faxes."

"Probably," Annie said trying to agree with him. She was actually kind of pissed that she had wasted three hours flying up to Connecticut when it was only a two hour flight to Kentucky from North Carolina but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"I'm sorry that you had to fly, I know how much you hate it but it's good to have the sketches. We'll get it done ASAP and have it ready for you on Sunday."

"There's nothing like waiting until the last minute."

"It's not worse than having to wait for your music, which has to be ready to go by tomorrow night."

"Good luck with that," she joked. "Just show the band a really hot picture of me or something, I'm sure it will work."

"You would be thinking that," he said with a smile. "I'm sure if we give them enough money and possible exposure then they will be more than willing to help out."

"Just give me a call later and let me know if you were able to get them. If not I'll just keep the music that I have It's not that big of a deal if I don't get to change it."

"I thought that you wanted it changed."

"I do but this is the only song and the only band that I want to do my music and if I can't have them then I will stick with what I have."

"I will call you later with what they've decided."

"Alright but I should really get going so I can grab some lunch at the airport before I fly to Kentucky. Back to back flights can really suck."

"Sorry again for making you fly out here but it was good to see you and hear about you and Jeff in person. I'm glad that everything is starting to fall into place for you guys. You deserve it."

"Everything is coming together nicely," Annie agreed as she stood up. "And let me know what you decide for Wrestlemania because I would like to start training for it as soon as possible."

"Do I even want to know what Jeff thinks of this?"

"Jeff still doesn't know. I wanted to talk to you before I told him."

"Then who did you need to talk to besides Crystal?"

"I wanted to make sure that my parents weren't going to have a heart attack if they saw me falling off of a very tall ladder. Thankfully I could use Jeff as a reference with the whole no injuries for a ladder match excuse."

"Speaking of injuries, are you going to be able to compete on Sunday?"

"Well my ankle is still a little bit swollen and it hurts from time to time but I know that I can careful and everything will be okay."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive. I will get it taped up nice and tight and it will be fine. I don't have to really be on it until Sunday and we will see how everything turns out after that."

"Okay but you really should get going so that you can eat. I'm sorry if I wasted your time having you fly out here."

"It's really not a problem."

Annie said her goodbyes to Vince and made her way out the door. She had been trying her hardest to not think about her ankle because she knew that it always hurt more when she thought about it. She didn't want anything jeopardizing her chances of competing on Sunday, whether she was injured or not. All of the worrying that she had been doing was because she was clumsy and fell down the stairs, figures.

Annie sat backstage after getting her hair and make-up done and getting dressed for the night. They had decided to have her wear 4" stiletto heels, which was ridiculous enough on any normal night, but she was afraid that her ankle was going to roll over and she would re-injure herself. As she watched the matches go by she taped her ankle with sports tape because her brace wouldn't fit underneath the shoes. When she realized that it was almost her time she put her shoes on and headed towards the gorilla position.

She stood waiting as Kelly made her way down to the ring. Her silk black meshed shirt was paired with a pair of dark flared jeans and her stiletto heels and she couldn't have been more uncomfortable. Once Kelly and Melina had made their way down to the ring, Annie's promo played over the titantron.

"Well hello down there. I know I know, it's been a few weeks since I've last seen all of you but it's not like I really care or that you care. Honestly there is only one thing that I care about, that I want and it's defiantly not to entertain all of you low lives here in Kentucky," her voice rang through the arena as the crowd booed loudly. Annie stood in the back and even though this is what she had wanted, it still made her a little upset to hear people booing her. "I mean what kind of people have you ever really produced? You have nothing to be proud of in this state. But anyways, back to the business at hand. You all think that you know me that you know who I am, and what I could be but you don't. This is only the beginning. Taking these few weeks off have really shown me that you fans mean absolutely nothing to me. The only person who means anything me is Jeff and it's because of you that he can't be here. It's because of you that I've been forced to become the person that I've always meant to be."

Annie cringed as the booing got louder. "I told the office that I wouldn't come back until I got the title opportunity that I so much deserve. And guess what Kelly. I will be your opponent at the Rumble because frankly what is the office going to do? They know as well as you do that there would be no Women's division if it weren't for me. They will give me anything that I want because it would be an astronomical loss if I didn't come back. I don't need to have a #1 contender's match because all of you know that I am that good. I'm sick and tired of trying to please the world that spins around me. I'm doing this for me and me alone. And guess what, you can love me, you can hate me for everything I've done but at least now you know the truth. Kelly…I am what you fear most and I will not be forgotten, this is my time and only the strong will survive. So I guess I'll be seeing you."

Annie's promo cut off and crowd continued to boo loudly. She watched in the monitors as Kelly tried to shake off Annie's words and focus on her match. Although she didn't like being boos by the crowd, she was actually enjoying herself. She was really only going to be the bad guy for a little over a month anyways and at least this way she kind of got to re-invent herself. She took a deep breath in when her new music, which was "Back for More" by Five Finger Death Punch, rang through the arena with a loud pop.

Kelly and Melina both stopped as the music started and the crowd went silent. Annie waited until halfway through the first verse before she stepped out onto the stage. If she thought that it was loud from backstage, the not so nice welcome she got as she stood at the top of the ramp was like a million people punching her.

Melina gracefully stepped out of the ring and walked up the side of the ramp Annie made her way down the middle of it. Kelly looked like she was trying to act tough, when in reality everybody could see that she was scared. Annie didn't rush, she walked very slowly, trying to build the anticipation of the fight but really it was because she was concentrating so hard on not falling.

She stood at the base of the ring for a moment before putting her hand up on the rope and pulling herself onto the ring apron. Kelly stood at the other side of the ring, ready for a fight and waiting for Annie to get into the ring. Annie stood there for another moment, holding onto the top rope with both of her hands before she finally stepped over the middle rope and into the ring. She circled slowly around the ring and Kelly mirrored her.

The crowd continued to boo as her music went off and she could finally hear them clearly. Some were yelling that she was a sellout, that she sucked but most were chanting that they wanted Jeff. She understood what they meant. She wanted him there too but he could be. Kelly tried to take advantage of Annie looking around at the crowd as she ran right for Annie. Annie side stepped her and grabbed her into a headlock. She brought Kelly down to the ground and let her out of the headlock but that was only so that she could stomp on Kelly with her 4 inch stilettos. Once Kelly looked like she wasn't getting back up Annie wiped her hands together over Kelly's chest and laughed as she made her way out of the ring.

She smiled evilly as she stood at the top of the ramp with her hands raised above her head. Annie laughed as Kelly lied in the ring coughing and trying to get up. Annie raised a microphone to her mouth.

"That's only a small preview of the pain that you are going to be in once Sunday rolls around. The title that you hold so dear will be mine and there is nothing that you can do to stop me," she chuckled as she dropped the mic onto the stage and walked behind the curtain. Once she was safely backstage she breathed deep and sat down. She took off the heels because they had hurt worse than she thought they were going to, and waited for Kelly to come backstage.

"You okay," Annie asked as Kelly walked towards her.

"Yeah I'm fine, you only managed to jab me once with the heel so it could be worse."

"I'm sorry but they wanted me to wear them and I'm not used to beating someone up in heels."

"How's your ankle feeling? Are you going to be okay for Sunday?"

"I won't be 100% but Jeff has been helping me work on submissions so that I don't have to do as much aerial stuff."

"I'm really honored that you want to do this storyline with me," Kelly said as they walked towards the locker rooms. "I mean I know that you probably didn't decide to do this with me but it's still an honor to work with you."

"Actually it was my idea and I've been wanting to work against you but we couldn't do that while I was well liked. I'm just happy that they let me turn heel."

"I honestly think that you make a better heel than a face. Your promos are better than any other female I've ever seen cut promos."

"I appreciate that but I'm happy that I don't have to do this for very long. It was harder than I thought it was going to be to go out there and get booed like I did. Its one thing to hear people boo you when you're sitting at home watching it but it's a whole other thing when you're out there. When my music shut off I couldn't believe how loud they actually were."

"That and when Jeff comes back they are putting you two back together, which is surprising," Kelly said as they stood outside of Annie's small locker room.

"It's not that surprising," Annie told her. "Since I've been here so long I really do get to do pretty much what I want and since Jeff and I are actually dating Vince knows that I want to stay with him on screen too."

"Since when are you two dating," Kelly asked excited.

"We've been dating pretty much since he got suspended. A lot of stuff has been happening at home between him and my family that it was actually nice to come back for a few days to try and get my mind off of things."

"Well congratulations, I've been rooting for you guys."

"I think that everybody has and thank you but I really need to get back to the hotel. I have the first flight out to Texas in the morning." Kelly looked at her puzzled. "I'm going to visit Shawn and Jeff is meeting me down there. Since I'm working on Smackdown and haven't been around I haven't seen him for a while."

"I will see you Sunday then. I'm assuming you're not working the house shows?"

"Not until my ankle is heeled and Jeff is back but I will see you Sunday."

Annie went into her locker room and got changed into a pair of sweatpants and one of Jeff's sweatshirts before putting her ankle brace back on and a pair of loose sneakers. None of her shoes seemed to be fitting her expect for an old pair of converse low tops without the laces in them. She was hoping that no fans would try to approach her as she left the arena. Even though her character was angry with the fans didn't mean that she really was but she wasn't feeling up to seeing anybody. She just wanted to go back to the hotel, get some sleep and fly to Texas first thing in the morning to see Shawn and Jeff.


End file.
